Govt plans to sell ORI retail bond in August

Aditya Suharmoko ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 05/13/2009 12:55 PM  |  Business

The government plans to sell its sixth retail bond ORI006 series in August to plug the 2009 budget deficit reaching Rp 139.5 trillion, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.

The ORI006 series will have a three-year maturity, but the coupon has yet to be decided, considering market conditions prior to the sales, the ministry's director of government bonds Bhimantara Widyajala said in a press briefing.

"We expect to sell ORI006 after ORI001 matures on Aug. 9. We will start offering them by the end of July."

Meanwhile, the ministry’s director general of debt management Rahmat Waluyanto said the government had appointed 20 selling agents for ORI006.

"We select 20 selling agents -- 14 of them are banks and 6 securities -- based on fixed requirements, including strong capital base, large networks, number of branches and good track record," Rahmat told a press briefing on Wednesday.

The 20 selling agents are Bank Mandiri, Bank OCBC NISP, Citibank N.A., Bank Bukopin, Standard Chartered Bank, Bank BII, Bank Permata, Bank CIMB Niaga, Bank BRI, Bank Mega, Panin Bank, Bank BNI, Bank BCA, HSBC, Trimegah Securities, Danareksa Sekuritas, Ciptadana Securities, Reliance Securities, Indopremier Securities and Mega Capital Indonesia.

ORI targets individual investors as the government expects to expand Indonesia's bond market.

"By strengthening domestic investment, we can prevent mass redemption (by foreign investors), which could affect market stability," Rahmat said.

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