RI seeks donations, Paris Club debt deal
RI seeks donations, Paris Club debt deal
Agencies, Paris/Geneva
Indonesia on Tuesday welcomed the promise of a debt moratorium from the Paris Club of government creditors, but said it also needed more donations rather than new loans to cope with the aftermath of the Asian tsunami.
"We are perfectly grateful for the efforts made to relieve our debt in the form of a moratorium, but it is obvious that we would also appreciate receiving donations rather than new credits," Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda was quoted by Reuters after talks with French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier.
More than 150,000 people were killed by the huge waves that followed an earthquake off the Indonesia island of Sumatra on Dec. 26. Some 105,000 of the victims were in Indonesia.
Indonesia said on Monday it expected Western creditors to allow it to freeze up to Rp 30 trillion (US$3.2 billion) in debt repayments through 2006 to deal with the disaster.
That would amount to about one third of its $8.8 billion in scheduled repayments over the next two years to the group of sovereign creditors.
Indonesia's central bank says the country's total outstanding debt to the Paris Club stood at $47.78 billion as of June 2004, around 60 percent of the country's external public debt.
Finance ministers of the Group of Seven industrialized nations agreed on Friday they were ready for a debt moratorium for nations hit by the tsunami. French Finance Minister Herve Gaymard said on Sunday the Paris Club also accepted the freeze.
In Geneva, the United Nations urged donor countries to set a record by meeting in full its $1.0 billion appeal for immediate aid to victims of Asia's tsunami, and pledged to be open about how the money was spent.
As more than 80 states met to discuss the UN call and longer term assistance to affected areas around the Indian Ocean, the head of the UN aid effort Jan Egeland said he was optimistic all the cash would come in.
"Today we may see that for the first time in history, we will have a flash appeal covered fully," he told journalists.
Egeland also said the UN would use U.S. auditor firm PricewaterhouseCoopers to help ensure that aid money promised for the relief effort finds its way to those in need.
"We want to be held accountable as aid agencies working on the ground and we want also our friend the donors to be accountable for what they promise and what they are actually delivering," he said.
AFP reported the World Health Organization warned the next two weeks would be crucial to preventing the outbreak of disease. It warned health authorities needed to watch carefully for diseases such as diarrhea, dysentery and typhoid among survivors in coming weeks, as the UN Food and Agriculture Organization also warned two million people in 12 countries were facing severe food shortages.