Standard Chartered Bankâs head economist Eric Sugandi has said the Greek crisis, in which the country is being threatened to be pushed out of the eurozone, will not make a direct impact on Indonesiaâs economic growth
tandard Chartered Bank's head economist Eric Sugandi has said the Greek crisis, in which the country is being threatened to be pushed out of the eurozone, will not make a direct impact on Indonesia's economic growth.
'Its impacts on us are indirect, but still big,' the analyst said as quoted by Antara on Tuesday. He was speaking during a collective breaking-of-the-fast event held by Standard Chartered Bank in Jakarta on Monday evening.
Eric said Greece was not one of Indonesia's main investors so that its government's debt problems would not make direct impacts on this country's economy.
'Greece is neither our main investor nor our main trade partner. We are also not an investor in the country. Its debt crisis will bring impacts, although indirect, through currency,' he said.
The analyst further explained that Indonesia's economy would be affected by indirect impacts of the Greek debt crisis from other countries that are direct partners of the country.
Apart from the Greek debt crisis, Eric said, Indonesia's economic growth would also be affected by other external factors, such as the ongoing 'super dollar' phenomena that had led the US currency to continuously appreciate against the currencies of other countries.
'The current trend is that there is an expectation that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) will increase its funds rate. [...] Bank of China has also been reported to slash its interest rate while in the eurozone we've just seen the Greek debt crisis,' said Eric.
He said the super dollar phenomena, which made impacts via financial courses, could be seen from the rupiah depreciation that had continued to occur while the dollar tended to strengthen.
'The US dollar will continue to appreciate against the euro and the currencies of emerging markets, including Indonesia's,' said Eric.
He said all market players were still waiting for Greece's July 5 bailout referendum.
As reported earlier, Greece must repay its '¬1.6 billion worth of debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), or otherwise it would be declared bankrupt. Several other European countries have agreed to provide bailout funds for Athens, but only on the condition of Greece making a number of changes to its state budget. (ebf)(+++)
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