GARUDA TO RESTRUCTURE DEBTS TO ECA

Jakarta, April 13 (ANTARA) - PT Garuda Indonesia has announced it is planning to finalize the restructuring of its debts to the Export Credit Agency (ECA) next week.

"The finalization will be made next week. We will meet them," President Director of Garuda Emirsyah Satar told the press after a signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding on corporate sales with Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) here on Tuesday.

He said that both sides still had to settle a number of problems, particularly with regard to parties involved. "We still have to discuss a number of covenants before it is signed," he said.

Satar did not disclose where the meeting would be held.

He said that basically the ECA creditors had agreed that the restructuring of the debts of the national flag carrier would be carried out until 2016.

"For Garuda, this is very strategic and beneficial because the status of its debts would be clear," he said.

Asked on the amount of its debts, Satar said that the state-owned aviation firm has to pay about US$45 million per annum to ECA.

Based on records, for the 2009 period Garuda still owed US$241.2 million to the ECA.