Fed: Aust and World Bank to arrange study of Indon foreign debt

AAP General News (Australia)
08-07-2001
Fed: Aust and World Bank to arrange study of Indon foreign debt

Australia and the World Bank will arrange a joint study of Indonesia's massive foreign
debt to work out how to help its crippled economy.

Foreign Minister ALEXANDER DOWNER says the study will look at both corporate and government
debt and it will also examine whether debt amassed by the cronies of former president
SUHARTO can be separated from the total.

The plan for the study was worked out by Mr DOWNER and World Bank president JAMES WOLFENSOHN
when they met in Sydney last week.

But Mr DOWNER says the plan is on a no-commitments basis and the government and the
World Bank has no idea what can be done about it.

Unlike most nations in the region, Indonesia has failed to bounce back from the South-East
Asian economic crisis in 1997.

AAP RTV kjp/daw/jh/jn

KEYWORD: INDON IMF AUST (CANBERRA)

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