Indonesia will this year ask for less than half of last year’s 2.8 billion dollars loan commitments from the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI), its main western creditor group whose member states include Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.
Economics Minister Aburizal Bakrie said the government will only seek about 1.2 billion dollars from the CGI this year to cover half of the estimated 2005 state budget deficit. He said the much lower sum was part of the government’s efforts to reduce its reliance on foreign loans.
Bakrie added that the current debt ratio — comparing debt and gross domestic product — for 2004 stood at around 60.1 percent compared to 77 percent in 2002.
Indonesia is aiming to push down the ratio to 54.9 percent in 2005.
Other CGI member states are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, England, Germany, Italia, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, South Korea, Switzerland and the United States. It also comprises the Nordic Investment Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, and the Saudi Fund for Development.
