KfW provides PELNI with boat loan

JAKARTA: The Indonesian government and German financing firm Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (KfW) signed an 81.8 million euros (approximately US$72 million) loan agreement on Friday to allow the government to buy a 3000-passenger boat.

The agreement was signed by the ministry of finance and officials from KfW.

The KfW said in a statement that the soft loan was provided both by it and the German federal ministry of economic cooperation and development.

The soft loan would have an average composite interest rate of not more than 1.8 percent per annum, it said.

The project was aimed at improving sea traffic links between Sumatra/Java and the eastern part of Indonesia, especially Sulawesi and Papua, it said, adding that the ship would be operated by state shipping company PT PELNI. -- JP