IBRA to disburse funds for new govt agency
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The management of the now-defunct Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) will disburse on Thursday funds totaling Rp 150 billion (US$17.6 million) to its successor, the Assets Management Company (AMC).
"The sum can hopefully be used by AMC to start its operations," said IBRA chairman Syafruddin A. Temenggung after a meeting with Minister of Finance Boediono on Tuesday.
AMC was formed earlier this month following the disbanding of IBRA on Feb. 27. The company, which is under the supervision of the Ministry of Finance, is charged with managing and restructuring IBRA's remaining assets, worth about Rp 40 trillion. It will, however, not be burdened by fiscal targets, as IBRA was previously.
As further explained by Syafruddin, the funds were requested last week by the Financial Sector Policy Committee (FSPC), which groups senior economics ministers.
The Ministry of Finance itself planned to disburse operational funds of Rp 300 billion for AMC. The disbursement, however, is currently pending approval from the House of Representatives.
"The funds from IBRA will not need the approval of the House," Syafruddin said.
The money, he continued, would be in the form of a loan to be paid back by AMC.
"IBRA will then forward the repayment to the Ministry of Finance as part of IBRA's additional revenue to the state," Syafruddin said.
However, he did not elaborate on the money, but said that IBRA was still controlling funds of about Rp 3 trillion to 4 trillion, which would be delivered to the Ministry of Finance in April.
The funds, he explained, would be on top of the Rp 5 trillion targeted for IBRA, generated from sales of assets under its control. The agency delivered the targeted amount to the government to support the state budget for the year prior to its disbandment.
IBRA was established in 1998 to bail out banks bankrupted by the country's 1997 economic crisis. Of the total Rp 650 trillion in assets IBRA obtained from the banks, it managed to recover only about 28 percent.
Aside from AMC, the government also plans to establish a new institution under the Ministry of Finance, to take over IBRA's role in the government's bank deposit guarantee program.