Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Indonesia will need more than $4.5 billion to rebuild Aceh and North Sumatra, the provinces hardest hit by the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami, Minister for National Economic Planning Sri Mulyani Indrawati said in Jakarta.

The final assessment for total losses and damages in the two areas is estimated at $4.5 billion, or about 2.3 percent of the country's gross domestic product, Mulyani said today in a presentation to international lenders.

Indonesia's government said yesterday more than 115,000 people died in the country, mostly in Aceh, the highest toll among 12 nations hit by giant waves that were triggered by a magnitude-9 earthquake off the Sumatra coast. The United Nations described the damage in Aceh as ``truly staggering'' after relief teams reported back to the General Assembly.

``In some areas, fatality rates top 75 percent with 100 percent of all homes and dwellings destroyed,'' Kevin M. Kennedy, Director of the Coordination and Response Division of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said, according to a news release on the agency's Web site. ``In one area they've lost in excess of 90 percent of the population.''

About 190,000 people were killed or are missing in Indonesian, Sri Lanka, India and the other Indian Ocean countries hit by the tsunami, according to figures compiled by governments.

Closed to Foreigners

Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra was already hard to access and closed to foreigners for two years because of a separatist rebellion before the tsunami. Three and a half weeks after the disaster, the UN has only now completed a full assessment of the area.

The Free Aceh Movement has been fighting for independence for the province since 1976. Aceh, which has strategic importance as the gateway to the Strait of Malacca, is resource-rich with natural gas, oil and timber. The Strait of Malacca is one of the busiest sea lanes in the world with 40 percent of world trade passing through the waterway.

As of yesterday, at least 115,229 people are confirmed dead, while 12,082 others are still missing, an Indonesian government official said. At least 603,518 people are displaced, she said.

The World Food Program will need military help for three months to distribute food in Aceh province, Anthony Banbury, the agency's regional director for Asia, said yesterday.

The agency plans to increase food distribution by 25 percent to 500,000 people in the next 10 days it said yesterday. It had given aid to 400,000 people as of Jan. 17.

Rebuilding Aceh

The World Bank said earlier today it may cost as much as $5 billion to rebuild areas in Aceh province, the area most severely affected by the tsunami. The disaster may slow economic growth, the World Bank said yesterday.

The World Bank and other lenders may meet a request by Indonesia, the nation hardest hit by the Dec. 26 tsunami, for as much as $3 billion in new loans to help cover its budget deficit and pay existing debt.

The 32-member Consultative Group on Indonesia may approve the loans at a two-day meeting in Jakarta that begins today, said economists including Ong Sin Beng. The group includes the World Bank and other international lenders as well as 21 countries, among them Japan, the U.S. and Germany.

``The role of the CGI is critical because a lot of their money is used directly to support fiscal expenditure,'' said Ong, an economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Singapore, who expects a pledge as high as $4 billion in loans and grants. ``If you see a large disbursement, it says Indonesia has largely been a good citizen and that they are comfortable in lending to it.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Aloysius Unditu in Jakarta at aunditu@bloomberg.net; Shanthy Nambiar in Jakarta at snambiar1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 19, 2005 03:26 EST