Minister uncertain about Paris Club meeting

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)