International bond road show starts in Dubai: Boediono
International bond road show starts in Dubai: Boediono
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Minister of Finance Boediono said on Friday that the government
would take advantage of next month's International Monetary and
Finance Committee (IFMC) forum in Dubai to help market the
country's planned US$400 million international bond offering.
He said that although the IFMC meeting was actually a
government-to-government forum, private investors would also be
present at the meeting.
"We need the two parties (governments and businesses) so as to
strengthen our position," Boediono said. The meeting will take
place on Sept. 21.
After Dubai, the non-deal road show is expected to continue to
other major financial centers in the world such as London,
Singapore and New York.
The government, as stated in its 2004 state budget draft,
plans to issue international bonds next year amounting to Rp 3.48
trillion (about $400 million), as part of foreign financing to
help plug the estimated Rp 24.9 trillion in budget deficit.
The government is in dire need of extra financing sources
following its decision not to extend the IMF's program, which
deprives the country of access to foreign debt relief from the
Paris Club of creditor nations.
This financing scheme will come along with other options,
including optimizing potential revenues from both domestic
sources and foreign ones.
Under the budget draft, however, domestic sources still make
up the largest portion in deficit financing, totaling Rp 39.8
trillion.
The bond issue will be the country's first international bond
issue since the 1997 financial crisis. In 1996, the government
issued some $400 million worth of Yankee bonds.
Elsewhere, Boediono also reiterated that during the
expositions, Indonesia would highlight the progress it had made
so far in its economic reform program
That would include also the government's reform program in the
future without the IMF-supported programs.
The government is preparing a 'white paper' which contains
crucial economic reform targets in the post-IMF era, which should
be ready by then, he added.