RI bond pricing next week

RI bond pricing next week

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones): Pricing for a large program of special
bonds to be used to finance Indonesia's bank restructuring
program should be finalized within the next week, the country's
central bank governor said Monday.

"We expect it this week or early next week," Bank Indonesia
governor Sjahril Sabirin said on the sidelines of the
International Monetary Fund's spring meetings.

The total bond program is estimated at Rp 300 trillion

Sjahril said the bank would strike agreements with individual
banks to prevent them from floating the bonds too early. The
central bank is concerned that a sudden flood of such issues to
the market would depress the market for its own Sertifikat Bank
Indonesia, or SBI, debt instruments, against which the bonds will
be priced.

Sjahril also said he expects the rupiah to hold stable despite
concerns over mounting violence ahead of parliamentary elections
in June.

"So far, despite some bad news, the rupiah has been
resilient," he said.