Minister uncertain about Paris Club meeting

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Finance Boediono said on Friday his office was still waiting for news from the Paris Club donor countries about the next debt-rescheduling meeting.

"We have not received any information about the Paris Club meeting," Boediono told reporters after a Cabinet meeting in Jakarta on Friday.

The meeting with the Paris Club, scheduled to take place immediately after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved Indonesia's economic reform agenda outlined in the new letter of intent (LoI), was expected to formalize the rescheduling of Indonesia's US$2.8 billion sovereign debt maturing up to March 2002.

While the LoI was approved on Tuesday, paving the way for the release of a $400 loan trance pledged under a three-year $5 billion bailout program put together in early 2000, donor countries in the Paris Club have given no word on the debt rescheduling.

A senior government official said earlier that Indonesia would also seek the rescheduling of $6 billion sovereign debt that matured between 2002 and 2004.

Finance minister advisor Anggito Abimanyu told The Jakarta Post on Friday that the delay was merely technical.

"The U.S. delegation could not fly to Paris because of the terrorist attack on Tuesday," he said, adding that the rescheduling was a forgone conclusion. The U.S. is the biggest donor in the Paris Club.

He said the Paris Club donor nations had pledged earlier that they would automatically reschedule Indonesia's $2.8 billion sovereign debt once the IMF approved the country's economic reform agenda.

He said, however, that he had no idea when the meeting would be held.

Uncertainty over the Paris Club meeting dragged the rupiah down to close at Rp 9,110 in thin trading on Friday.(03)