Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday welcomed Indonesia's decision to end its five billion dollar IMF assistance program and to enter into post-program monitoring next year.

"We also welcome the intention to sustain reform efforts. We will continue to conduct dialogue," IMF country representative David Nellor told AFX-Asia in an interview.

He said such a decision reflects the success of the government's economic program in the past few years under IMF assistance. "This [decision] reflects substantial improvement in Indonesian economic performance over the last couple of years and reflects the success of the program the fund is supporting," Nellor said. It can now raise funds in the normal way via the capital markets or issuing sovereign paper, Nellor said.

By entering the post-monitoring program, Indonesia will repay debt according to the normal agreed schedule. The IMF's five billion dollar assistance program will expire by the end of this year. By then, Indonesia would have a total outstanding debt to the IMF of around 9.8 billion dollars that can be repaid over seven years until 2010, Nellor said.

Nellor said that under post-program monitoring, the IMF would continue to send missions to Jakarta to exchange views on economic policy but there would be no formal program or financial support. "It is simply an exchange of views or dialogue."