Bisnis Indonesia, 28 May 2018
The Indonesian Oil Palm Farmers Association (Apkasindo) received a micro loan offer worth $15 billion from the Chinese government to conduct replanting programme on 2.5 million ha of oil palm plantations. Riau Apkasindo Chairman Gulat Manurung said that the micro loan was directly offered by the Chinese government to help 1.5 million smallholder farmers of Apkasindo. Gulat has met with Maritime Affairs Coordinating Minister Luhut B. Panjaitan to tell about the loan offer. The Chinese government offered a low interest rate of 4% to 5% and a grace period of five years. Besides Apkasindo, Sinar Mas Group has also proposed to manage the micro loan, but Luhut didn’t approve it, Gulat said.