JAKARTA: The Indonesian Export Financing Agency (LPEI), also known as Indonesia Eximbank, has signed a loan agreement with state-owned train manufacturer Industri Kereta Api (INKA) to export railway cars to Bangladesh. The state-run financing firm was appointed by the government to provide working capital loans worth Rp 270 billion (US$20.1 million) to INKA, which will use the funds to finance the shipment of railway cars to the South Asian country.
The appointment was made through a National Interest Account (NIA), which is a government policy to push penetration to non-traditional export destinations that, despite being commercially non-viable, may help boost shipments.
“The export financing uses NIA as shipments to non-traditional markets are deemed as less feasible and riskier,” Indonesia Eximbank executive director Ngalim Sawega said in a statement on Wednesday.
Ngalim said the agency had prepared a total pipeline of Rp 300 billion to support INKA for the project until Dec. 31 this year.
Indonesia’s total exports declined by 14.62 percent year-on-year to $150.25 billion last year and its imports plunged by 19.9 percent to $142.74 billion, leaving it to it book a trade surplus of $7.51 billion in 2015, data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) show.
