Banking/Finance

Tax Revenue Exceeded   Good Restructuring Numbers  IBRA Meets a Target 

First Privatization   Bakrie Restructures

Tax revenue exceeds target 

Domestic tax revenues collected by the Directorate General of Taxation  surpassed the target set in the 2001 budget.Director General of Taxation Hadi Purnomo said that his office collected a  total of Rp 158.26 trillion (US$15.82 billion) from various taxes, exceeding  the budget target of Rp 156.57 trillion.  Speaking on the sidelines of the New Year's celebration at his office, Hadi  noted that higher tax revenue was made possible from the higher revenue from  non-oil income tax and VAT.  Non-oil income tax revenue reached Rp 71.21 trillion, as compared to Rp 69.24  trillion set in the 2001 revised budget; meanwhile, VAT revenue totaled Rp  55.71 trillion, higher than the target of Rp 53.45 trillion. He also explained that tax revenue from land-and-building tax and from  land-and-building-title-acquisition tax totaled Rp 6.66 trillion surpassing  the target for the whole year of Rp 6.28 trillion.

JITF meets US$14b target

The Jakarta Initiative Task Force (JITF) has finalized the mediation of debt  restructuring talks worth US$14.2 billion from the $14 billion targeted this  year, but warned of tougher talks ahead as a prolonged economic slump  undermines companies' cashflow. JITF chairman Bacilius Ruru said on Thursday the agency's target of restructuring $14 billion by Dec. 31 was set in the Letter of Intent (LoI) to  the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "This represents the third consecutive time the JITF has satisfied the  targets set out in the LoI," Ruru said in a statement. JITF's debt restructuring target is one of the performance indicators the IMF  uses to gauge Indonesia 's reform progress.  (December 28, 2001, Jakarta Post)

IBRA Meets 2001 Target

JAKARTA -- The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency said Thursday it has raised 27.98 trillion rupiah ($1=IDR10,120) from loans and asset sales this  year, meeting its target for the 2001 budget.  IBRA, an agency set up after the 1997 Asian crash to help restructure the  embattled financial system, was tasked by the government to raise IDR27  trillion for this year's budget.  Indonesia desperately needs returns from IBRA after the government pumped $60  billion to help prop up the financial system after the 1997 crash. Without  returns, Indonesia 's budget deficit will remain large, forcing the government  to rely on international donors to fund its expenditures.

Indonesia Inks First Privatization Deal of 2001

Also on Friday, Indonesia signed a deal to sell an additional 30% of PT Socfindo (a palm oil plantation) to Belgium 's Plantations Nord-Sumatra.  Worth $45 million, the transaction increases the company’s stake in PT Socfindo to 90 percent from 60 percent. That would leave the government with the remaining 10 percent.   The deal is primarily symbolic as the 2001 privatization target was $622 million. No privatization deals went through in 2000.

BAKRIE RESTRUCTURES

PT Bakrie announced that it had restructured $1.06 billion in debt. After the restructuring, the family will be left with only 2.92 percent from 58.42 percent, while the public ownership will be diluted to 2.08 percent from 41.58 percent. "But we plan to buy back up to 25 percent of the company in five years, in fact the restructuring agreement allows us to buy back up to 45 percent, but I don't think that is realistic under current conditions," Bakrie Group chairman Aburizal Bakrie told reporters late on Thursday.  Bakrie said the 95 percent ownership at the company will spread to various financial institutions, including the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), JP Morgan, Japan 's Itochu Corp, Deutsche Bank , and Lehman Brothers.