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.