RI, Germany to sign loan deals

JAKARTA: Three financing agreements will be signed by the German Development Bank (KfW group) with the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday during the visit of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder here.

Totaling euro 26 million (about US$30 million), the deals comprise euro 14.7 million of grants and a euro 11.3 million soft loan with an interest rate of 0.75 percent per annum and 40 years maturity, the German Embassy said in its release.

The funds from the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development will be allocated for basic science education, a provincial hospital in the South Sumatra capital of Palembang and rural water supplies in East Nusa Tenggara.

The grant-based basic science education project is expected to provide better teaching materials, especially science teaching kits to enable a child-oriented approach in science lessons at primary schools.

The hospital project will be aimed at improving physical infrastructure, medical equipment and quality of services at Mohammad Hoesin Hospital in Palembang. --JP