RI to buy back treasury bonds

RI to buy back treasury bonds

JAKARTA: The Indonesian government will offer to buy back an
undisclosed amount of Treasury bonds from lenders and investors
today as it endeavors to save on interest costs.

The government is looking to repurchase bonds maturing between
Jan. 1, 2006, and Dec. 31, 2010, the Ministry of Finance said in
a faxed statement.

Indonesian is selling Treasury bonds and buying back older,
higher-yielding debt, including that of local banks estimated to
be about Rp 10 trillion (US$43.7 billion). The bonds were issued
to banks after the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and 1998 to
increase their capital. The government said on July 14 it may
purchase around Rp 1 trillion of the securities.

The country's budget deficit may widen to Rp 35.2 trillion, or
1.3 percent of gross domestic product this year, from an initial
forecast of Rp 20.3 trillion, or 0.8 percent of GDP, Finance
Minister Jusuf Anwar said on July 18. -- Bloomberg