Govt disburses $267m loans

Govt disburses $267m loans

JAKARTA (JP): The government has disbursed Rp 2.2 million
(US$267 million) of farming loans in just one month, Minister of
Cooperatives, Small and Medium Enterprises Adi Sasono said on
Sunday.

Speaking after officiating at the Cooperatives of the Glorious
Mandate session, Adi said the government would disburse the
complete Rp 8.2 trillion in farming loans by January 1999.

"This will drive up people's purchasing power enormously and
create demand for goods and services offered by small industrial
firms," he said.

In previous years, the government normally allocated some Rp
200 billion to Rp 400 billion for farming loans, less than half
of which could be channeled to farmers.

Adi also called on farmers to use traditional,
environmentally-friendly fertilizers to substitute modern
fertilizers the prices of which had soared following the removal
of fertilizers subsidy. (29)