Debt rescheduling and aid management

Following the pledge by international financial institutions and donor countries to provide more assistance outside the bounds of the IMF bailout package, the Indonesian government has formally asked for a rescheduling of its overseas debts.

In principle, this should be a technical banking problem.

However, aside from technical banking factors, the request to reschedule debt also raises a moral dilemma for the authorities in this country. Our creditors will naturally pay great attention to matters of transparency, accuracy and financial responsibility.

The World Bank, which numbers among our creditors, is currently preparing to set up an independent international team to examine corruption in all projects which it is financing. It has promised to investigate any reports of wrong doing and embezzlement involving World Bank functionaries. Projects running in Indonesia will be included on the team's agenda.

Our authorities should rise to this challenge and strive to ensure that all World Bank projects are free of corruption, collusion and nepotism. Furthermore, should they find evidence that any project funds have been used to the benefit of private interests rather than the public good then they should not hesitate to take all measures warranted by the law.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta