Indonesia to issue bonds in Renminbi

Following the success of its yen-denominated "Samurai Bonds", the Indonesia government says it will issue bonds denominated in the currencies of China and South Korea next year. According to the Indonesian (Jakarta Post), representatives of ASEAN member nations, China, Japan, and South Korea are scheduled to discuss the cross-border bond issuance, to be done under the ASEAN+3 bond market initiative, at the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) meeting this week. "I believe 2013 is reasonable timing for it [ASEAN+3 bond] to be issued The packages that we are going to offer will be similar to the Samurai Bonds in Japan" the Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo told reporters. Samurai Bonds have helped Indonesia reduce its cost of funds to plug budget deficits in previous years as the yen-denominated bonds offered coupons that were significantly lower than rupiah bonds. The first Samurai Bonds were issued in July 2009, raising about 35 billion yen (435 million dollars)