RI seeks to reschedule around $5.5b debt

RI seeks to reschedule around $5.5b debt

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Finance Minister Boediono said that the government was seeking to
reschedule some US$5.5 billion in sovereign debt maturing this
year and next from the Paris Club of creditor nations.

"The amount is around $5.5 billion -- and I'm very
optimistic," he was quoted by Antara as saying on Monday.

Boediono has just been returned from a week-long overseas trip
to lobby creditor nations to grant Indonesia with a debt
rescheduling facility to help ease pressure on the state budget.

The government, which is scheduled to convene with the Paris
Club members from April 8 to April 11, is not only seeking for
the rescheduling of debt principal, but also interest rate.

For this year alone, some Rp 27 trillion (about $2.7 billion)
in principal and interest will have to be rescheduled to help
maintain the 2002 state budget deficit at a safe level of around
2.5 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).

Indonesia has around $140 million in overseas debts, of which
around half is government debt.

On Monday, the House of Representatives approved the country's
first anti-money laundering bill into law, which has been a
requirement demanded by creditor nations.

Boediono's overseas trip included a visit to Washington, which
has been putting a strong pressure on the Indonesian government
to do more in the U.S.-led war against terrorism.

Central bank officials have said that if Indonesia wants to
obtain a favorable debt rescheduling facility from the Paris
Club, the government must prove to the U.S. government, an
influential creditor at the Paris Club, that it is serious about
combating terrorism.

There have been accusations that religious militant groups,
linked to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S., have been
at large and operating in Indonesia.