RI trade program 'must avoid fraud'

RI trade program 'must avoid fraud'

SINGAPORE (AP): Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said that a proposed trade financing program with Indonesia must be carefully formulated in order to prevent fraud, The Sunday Times reported.

Goh announced last week that Singapore will use at least US$ 2 billion to set up a bilateral guarantee program for trade with Indonesia.

The amount is to come from the $5 billion pledged last fall as Singapore's contribution to a bailout package for Indonesia orchestrated by the International Monetary Fund.

The IMF aid is designed to help the Southeast Asian country recover from an economic crisis triggered by a plunge in the Indonesian currency last year.

In a interview conducted Thursday and published on Sunday, the Singapore leader cautioned that "we have to make sure the rules can be implemented clearly to prevent possible fraud."

"We have no experience in running such a bilateral scheme," Goh was quoted as saying. "It's not going to be a small scheme; it's going to cover a large proportion of our trade" with Indonesia.

An earlier Singapore proposal for a multilateral trade financing plan failed due to lack of support from the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations, according to Goh.

He said the bilateral program, which came at Indonesia's request, will have some flexibility built into it so that other countries can participate once it has started up.

As of Sunday, it was still unclear when Singapore would release further details of the plan.

"We need time to study, so I will not know at this stage when I can announce it formally," Goh was quoted as saying in the report.