New debt conversion rate set at Rp 7,931 to dollar

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Debt Restructuring Agency (INDRA) set the exchange rate used to convert private sector overseas loans into rupiah at Rp 7,931 to the U.S. dollar for companies entering the agency in December.

The agency said in a statement on Tuesday that the conversion rate was based on the best average exchange rate of the rupiah to the dollar during the past 20 days.

The rupiah closed at Rp 7,450 to the dollar on Tuesday.

INDRA was established in August following the Frankfurt agreement in June between representatives of local debtors and foreign lenders to extend the country's more than US$63 billion corporate overseas loans to eight years, including a three-year grace period.

Under the voluntary INDRA scheme, participating companies will be provided access to dollars at a locked-in exchange rate for monthly payments of their debts.

Entry into INDRA will be closed in June 1999, and debtors will be given the best conversion rate from the one-year entry period, with those companies who entered at a higher rate receiving refunds.

The December conversion rate was lower than the Rp 8,501 in November, Rp 11,216 in October, Rp 12,314 in September and Rp 13,233 in August.

So far no companies have joined INDRA, but the agency said that companies were still negotiating with their foreign creditors to restructure their debts, which is a precondition for entering INDRA. (rei)