IMF to Help Bail Out Indonesia’s Economy

The International Monetary Fund said it will provide a financial rescue package to Indonesia after a sharp fall in the value of the currency of the world’s fourth most populous country. The international lending institution said it would send a team of experts to Jakarta this week to work out details and would join World Bank and Asian Development Bank teams already in the field. The move was the latest by the organizations to help financially troubled Asian economies. The IMF and a group of countries led by Japan provided Thailand with $17 billion in August, the second-biggest rescue package after $50 billion given to Mexico in 1995. The IMF also put together an aid package for the Philippines early in the summer. The value of Indonesia’s currency, the rupiah, has lost 18.6% in the last two weeks, partly as a result of Thailand’s crisis. Since the beginning of the year it has lost 40% of its value.