----- Original Message ----- From: Konstantin Kilibarda <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: STOP NATO! <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Michel Chossudovsky <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, April 07, 2000 8:30 AM Subject: [STOPNATO] IMF IS CRAZY STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG Check this out, the IMF puts restructuring deadlines forward and then accuses Jakarta of not being able to meet the deadlines!!!! Kids, I think what we have here is open economic warfare on Indonesia to exacerbate (and accelerate) the painfulness of the restructuring process, in order to ensure that this archipelago will snap into edible pieces for eventual Western occupation and the establishment of a Washington backed pan-Asian security architecture!!! Mark my words, the "balkanization" of Indenosia is a REAL and SERIOUS possibility in the next five years (although with these brutal IMF reforms, it could be within the next two years!)...(for those interested in the IMF Letter of Intent see: www.thejakartapost.com). kolya ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------- "UPDATE 2-Indonesia must race to meet IMF deadlines" Updated 2:46 AM ET April 1, 2000 By Muklis Ali JAKARTA, April 1 (Reuters) - Indonesia faces a race against time to fulfil pledges made to the International Monetary Fund if it is to persuade creditors to reschedule its debt and the IMF to release its next loan instalment, officials said on Saturday. Ahead of a special cabinet meeting to discuss speeding up economic reform, chief economics minister Kwik Kian Gie told reporters Indonesia had promised to implement key measures by April 12. Other reforms have been promised by April 30. But a letter from the IMF obtained by Reuters said Indonesia should aim to further accelerate reforms to smooth its planned meeting with the Paris Club of creditors on April 12, when it will ask for the rescheduling of $2.1 billion in debt. "In order for the authorities to be able to present a stronger case to the Paris Club on April 12, it would be better if the measures dated April 12 could be advanced to April 8," said the letter, which was from IMF senior country representative John Dodsworth to Kwik and dated March 31. The measures the IMF wants by April 8 include giving the Jakarta Initiative Task Force, a body set up to promote corporate debt restructuring, new powers to help it break the country's private debt deadlock and clamp down on recalcitrant debtors. It also wants the recapitalisation of Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) to begin, and the recapitalisation of Bank Mandiri to be completed. Performance contracts must also be signed with the two banks. Indonesia's budget for fiscal 2000 assumes the Paris Club will agree to reschedule $2.1 billion, and failure to secure this could gravely hit the country's fiscal position. MORE ACTION NEEDED TO SECURE LOAN Indonesia had been due to receive a $400 million IMF loan tranche in early April, but the Fund said last week payment was not expected until May at the earliest amid concerns about the slow pace of economic reform. The IMF is particularly concerned at Indonesia's failure to implement promised measures to tackle its $65 billion private debt burden and take recalcitrant debtors to court. In its letter to Kwik, the IMF said that to minimise the delay in its next disbursement, a Fund review team should aim to arrive in Jakarta during the last week of April. "To ensure this, measures dated end-April would be better advanced to April 21," it said, adding that Indonesia must also clarify as soon as possible when it would fulfil other pledges for which no target date has been agreed. Measures the IMF wants accelerated to April 21 include the attorney-general setting up a team to investigate and prosecute corruption in the country's notorious court system. It also wants an international firm to be hired to advise on privatising state banks, and new management installed in Bank Rakyat Indonesia. The IMF suspended lending to Indonesia last year over a politically charged bank scandal, but in January drew up a new deal worth $5 billion over three years. Indonesia's promises, however, have not yet been matched by action. Kwik said the IMF was focusing on 42 key tasks in its review ahead of the next loan tranche disbursement. A list of the tasks obtained by Reuters shows almost all remain incomplete. Of 14 tasks assigned to the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), hardly any have been fulfilled. One of the pledges, agreeing a strategy on dealing with troubled Bank Bali, has been complicated by a controversial court ruling last week that said IBRA's takeover of the bank was illegal. SUBSIDY CUTS A CONTENTIOUS ISSUE Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid publicly castigated his economic team earlier this week for dragging their feet and called Saturday's cabinet meeting to discuss how the necessary measures could be pushed through quickly. But a senior participant in the cabinet meeting said disagreements among ministers were slowing reforms and threatened to derail the policy schedule. Indonesia's latest policy U-turn -- a last-minute decision on Friday to postpone cuts in fuel subsidies -- risks straining relations with the IMF even further. Wahid said measures to lessen the impact on the poor of fuel price rises were not yet in place. The planned price rises had sparked fears of mass protests across Indonesia. Cutting subsidies was a key part of Indonesia's reform pledges to the IMF, and was a central plank of the country's April to end-December budget which aimed to keep the budget deficit to under 4.8 percent of gross domestic product. ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Advertisement: Workstation with Monitor under $800! So, you just heard that you need to add how many new workstations by the end of next week? Check out the bundle below. It includes everything you need to get everyone up and running quickly. http://www.listbot.com/links/cdw5
