No specific plan yet for RI debt: Japan
No specific plan yet for RI debt: Japan
TOKYO (Reuters): Japan's Ministry of Finance (MOF) said
yesterday it is considering various options to solve the foreign
debt problems of Indonesia's private sector but has not yet
chosen one as its official proposal.
"We have not come up with a specific measure. We are still
discussing various options," a senior MOF official said.
But he said that one idea being discussed was that which was
reported in the financial daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun on Friday,
which said Japan had proposed measures to cut about $65 billion
in foreign debt of Indonesia's private sector by more than 30
percent.
"There are many people involved in this discussion...we are
still discussing in a very broad way. The idea (reported in the
daily) was taken up in our discussions, but not in such specific
terms," he said.
The daily said that under the plan, foreign banks would forgo
some of their loans and some corporate debt would be converted
into stock in debtor companies. The remaining external debt would
be rescheduled and guaranteed by the Indonesian government.
The proposal also called for financial assistance already
pledged by Japan and other countries to be extended to the
Indonesian government in order to boost its ability to guarantee
loans, it said.
The idea was proposed to the Indonesian government by a
mission sent to Jakarta by the Japanese government in mid-
February, the daily said.
"We have not reached a specific conclusion. The idea was only
one alternative among a wide range of options in our
discussions," the official said, but declined to elaborate on
what other options they have discussed.
In mid-February, the ministry sent a mission to Indonesia to
study the country's financial crisis.
The mission, headed by Tadao Chino, a former vice finance
minister for international affairs, said in a report after the
visit that assistance should include funding from the Export-
Import Bank of Japan, trade insurance and aid for daily
necessities such as food and medicine.