BC news release likely to come this week David. Demand has been consistently strong @ .30 (over 100k bid today around closing) so it should be interesting to see what unfolds in the future.
On another note, some very good news for Indo just out:
WASHINGTON, May 4 (Reuters) - The
International Monetary Fund approved a delayed $1
billion handout for troubled Indonesia on Monday but
said it would watch carefully to ensure the government
met the terms of the tough program of reforms.
''We are under no illusions that everything will be
smooth sailing from now on out,'' IMF First Deputy
Managing Director Stanley Fischer told a news
conference announcing the payment.
''We will follow it very closely... There really is not
much room for slippage.''
The IMF payment, approved unanimously after
several hours of debate, opens the door to over $4
billion for Indonesia from Japan, Australia, Malaysia,
the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
This money, like the IMF cash, will be handed over in
stages to ensure Indonesia sticks to the terms of a
loan program renegotiated last month. Fischer said the
IMF would review its funding proposals again on June
4 and on July 6.
He admitted that members of the IMF's executive
board had expressed reservations about providing
additional funding for Indonesia, which has been
criticized in the United States and elsewhere for crony
capitalism and for violating human rights.
''Everybody in their statement expressed various
concerns and reservations, but when the bottom line
came, they all supported the program,'' he said.
Relations between Indonesia and the IMF have been
troubled in recent months over doubts about the
government's commitment to its reform package and a
plan -- since abandoned -- to introduce a rigid
currency system known as a currency board.
The IMF delayed a $3 billion payment while it
renegotiated the package and other donors also put
lending on hold.
The latest IMF payment should ease strained relations
between the two sides, but it is bound to fuel criticism
of the IMF from a hostile U.S. Congress.
Some lawmakers say IMF programs ignore human
rights violations or neglect the needs of the poor, while
others say the financial aid available amounted to a
cheap bailout for irresponsible lenders.
An administration request for Congress to approve
$18 billion to replenish IMF resources is stalled in the
House of Representatives.
Fischer said implementation of Indonesia's IMF
program should allow the rupiah currency to recover
''at some point,'' although he admitted a second
quarter target rate of 7,000 rupiah to the dollar would
probably not be met.
He said the loan program envisaged an average rate of
6,000 rupiah per dollar in the third quarter and a
rupiah stronger than 6,000 to the dollar in the final
quarter of this year. The rupiah was trading at around
8,000 to the dollar on Monday.
The $10 billion IMF loan forms part of a $40 billion
international rescue deal for Indonesia, which turned
to the fund last year after the crash of the rupiah
exposed weaknesses in its financial system.
The full rescue deal includes some $17 billion in
''second-line-of-defense'' funding from the United
States and countries in the Asia-Pacific region. But
Fischer said most bilateral donors were waiting before
making money available.
He said Japan would contribute $1 billion of the $5
billion it added to the package and Australia, which
promised $1 billion, would make $300 million
available. The size of Malaysia's contribution has not
yet been determined.
Fischer said a new letter of intent would be drawn up
before more tranches of the IMF loan could be
approved.
Actions needed would include adherence to tough
rules on monetary policy, such as ensuring there was
no decline in international reserves and that money
supply did not grow. REUTERS |
