IMF to ask Japan for extra $1b

IMF to ask Japan for extra $1b

TOKYO (Dow Jones): The International Monetary Fund will ask Japan to extend an additional US$1 billion in emergency lending to Indonesia to help the government continue paying off its external debt, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun's Sunday edition quotes IMF sources as saying.

The new lending would be part of a $6 billion loan package the IMF plans to put together by mid-July.

The IMF will contribute $2 billion to the package, with $1 billion each being sought from Japan, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The remaining $1 billion would come from such countries as the United States, Germany and Brunei, the newspaper reports.

The IMF has already broached the matter with Japan through unofficial channels, and seems to have received a positive response.

Japan is considering making the loan via government-affiliated institutions such as the Export-Import Bank of Japan and the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund, the sources said.