Evaluation of RI debt delayed until 2000

Evaluation of RI debt delayed until 2000

TURKU, Finland (AFP): A decision by the so-called Paris Club
of creditor nations on dealing with Indonesia's enormous debt has
been delayed until next year because of the situation in East
Timor, French Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn said here
Saturday.

Speaking on the sidelines of an informal meeting of EU finance
ministers, many of them members of the Paris Club, Strauss-Kahn
said they had approved a decision taken Friday by the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) to suspend talks with Indonesia
on its economic program.

"I have decided to put off to 2000 the examination of how to
deal with the Indonesian debt," said Strauss-Kahn, who presides
over the Paris Club, a group of creditor nations loosely
organized to reschedule the public debt of poor debtor nations.

An IMF mission to Jakarta had been scheduled for mid-September
to evaluate how well the government was implementing a program
agreed with the IMF in the wake of the 1997 financial crisis in
Asia, and to then disburse a US$460-million installment.

But, that mission has been put on hold following the violence
in East Timor in the wake of a UN-organized pro-independence
vote.

The World Bank was to disburse an additional $300 million to
Indonesia next week, but that, too, has been put on hold.

After the Asia economic crisis, Indonesia was the beneficiary
of a massive international bailout totaling some $47 billion,
including $12.3 billion in credits from the IMF, of which the IMF
has already disbursed some $10 billion.