Indonesia has asked major creditors grouping in the Paris Club for interest-free loans with shorter period, a senior official said on Tuesday.

"I have submitted letters to the Paris Club secretary-general and creditor countries asking for loans of no interest. We hope the maturity period will not be very long... may be five years," Minister of Finance Jusuf Anwar told reporters at his office.

He said creditor countries have responded to his letters and informed that the matter will be discussed during the group's gathering on Wednesday.

He didn't elaborate how much loans Indonesia plans to take on from the Paris Club.

Anwar also said the pledged debt moratorium from Paris Club will help ease burden in the state budget if there are no complicated conditions accompanying the moratorium.

A one-year debt moratorium could save spending by up to US$2 million in the state budget and that is "very convenient to the budget," he said.

The grouping in January agreed a debt moratorium to Indonesia as part of relief efforts for tsunami-hit countries, but the implementation is delayed pending a three-month evaluation by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2005)