JAKARTA. Indonesia and China are striving to push direct transactions between the currencies of the two countries, rupiah and yuan, in a bid to boost their economic cooperation.

“Trade activities and economic cooperation between Indonesia and China will grow bigger and wider, so it would be better for us to make direct transactions using rupiah and yuan,” State Enterprises Minister Rini Sumarmo said as quoted by Antara on Thursday.

She was speaking after witnessing the signing of loan agreements between three state lenders, BNI, BRI and Mandiri, and the Chinese Development Bank (CDB).

Persaingan Pasar Ketat, Kinerja Keuangan BELI Masih Solid

Rini said direct transactions using rupiah and yuan were aimed at protecting the two currencies from any dollar pressures caused by a high demand in the US currency, which might happen if Indonesia and China still used the US dollar in their transactions.

The US$3 billion loan agreements signed by the three state lenders and CDB are aimed at financing infrastructure projects in Indonesia.

The three banks’ representatives, Bank Mandiri president director Budi G.Sadikin, BRI president director Asmawi Syam and BNI president director Ahmad Baiquni, along with CDB executive president Zeng Zhijie signed the loan agreements at a ceremony witnessed by Rini and the head of China’s National Development and Reform Committee (NDRC), Xu Shaoshi.

Rini said the $3 billion loan was the first stage of a total loan commitment of $20 billion, which had been agreed upon by the State Enterprises Ministry, CDB and NDRC. “There is also a $10 billion loan for state-owned electricity company PLN,” she said.

Of the total loan, Mandiri, BRI and BNI received $1 billion each with a payment period of 10 years.

“They will receive around 30 percent of their loan denominated in renminbi. This is the first stage for our two countries to start using rupiah and renminbi,” said Rini. (ebf)