Minister to recommend credit for concessionaires

Minister to recommend credit for concessionaires

JAKARTA (JP): The minister of forestry, Djamaludin
Suryohadikusumo, has promised his ministry will help timber
companies to get bank loans.

The minister said his ministry would issue recommendations if
banks asked for them, Antara reported Saturday.

"Banks so far have never asked for a recommendation from the
ministry of forestry," he said commenting on reports that many
timber companies had trouble getting bank credit.

According to earlier reports, many banks were reluctant to
extend loans to timber companies because they thought forestry
was no longer a feasible business.

The minister said the reports were not entirely true because
many banks still trusted good timber companies like PT Kiani
Lestari and PT ITCI.

Djamaluddin said the ministry would assess the performance and
reliability of timber companies before recommending them for
loans.

He said his ministry would recommend only timber companies
that were performing well because banks would not lend money to
poor performing companies with no future.

"At present banks look only at forest resources and company
assets when lending money. They never ask for the ministry's help
in checking whether the timber company has problems or not,"
Djamaludin said.

He said banks' reluctance to lend forestry companies money was
partly because of his ministry's tough supervision measures.

He said the government only took action against poorly
performing timber companies, but that banks were afraid stern
measures like license revocation would also be imposed on timber
companies that were doing well. (08)