YOGYAKARTA (Indonesia) - CHINA has agreed to lend at least US$1.8 billion (S$2.5 billion) in soft loans to Indonesia as part of its free trade agreement with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), a minister said on Saturday.
The China-Asean Free Trade Agreement, which imposed zero tariffs on a range of goods, came into effect in January and has prompted fears among some Indonesian businesses that the domestic market would be flooded with cheap Chinese imports, leading to job losses in a country which already has high unemployment.
Indonesia's Trade Minister Mari Pangestu, who met China's Commerce Minister Chen Deming in Yogyakarta, Central Java, on Saturday, afterwards announced that China would provide US$1.8 billion in export buyers credits to finance the import of Chinese goods used for infrastructure projects such as toll roads, bridges and coal-fired power plants.
In addition, China will provide 1.8 billion yuan, also for infrastructure-related projects, while Chinese banks would help finance trade between the two countries.
Export-Import Bank of China will provide a US$100 million loan and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China may lend US$250 million to companies investing in both countries, according to a statement from the trade ministry.
Indonesia's largest lender PT Bank Mandiri Tbk will open a branch in China to further help trade between the two countries, according to the ministry.
No comments:
Post a Comment