This measure demonstrated immediately to foreign lenders that the guarantee put in place was operative and the Government’s determination to tackle this problem. At the same time, we recognized that the trade finance arrears that had been built up by some Indonesian banks during the currency and financial turmoil were prejudicing current access by Indonesian entities to trade financing across the entire economy.
We agreed to settle these arrears and have paid the due amount. Most recently, in December 1998, we cleared additional arrears. This was, we believe, an important signal to the international banking community.