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

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)