France's AFD enters Indonesia

JAKARTA: France has brought its development agency to Indonesia, in particular to support the reconstruction of Aceh that was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami a year ago.

The resident representative of the French Development Agency (AFD), Yathay Pin, explained during a reception here last week that his agency had allocated more than US$100 million in soft loans for Indonesia.

He explained that the loans on offer would carry a less than 1 percent interest rate per annum, with 20 years maturity and 10- year grace period.

"At the moment, your government does not want to take any loans as yet for Aceh reconstruction. It's only accepting grants. However, as there is going to be a large financial gap when the government starts building infrastructure there, we are here ready to extend our soft loans," Pin said.

For the time being, the AFD is still part of the French Embassy in Jakarta.

"Because of the tsunami, we now have the AFD with us here. We hope the AFD will continue here to support Indonesia," said French Ambassador to Indonesia Renaud Vignal. -- JP