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'Be mindful of global economic uncertainty,' says minister
Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro has stressed the importance of Indonesia staying alert amid global economic uncertainty which could put pressure on many countries around the world
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Stay alert: Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro says Indonesia must pay close attention to global economic uncertainty which could pose a threat to all countries. (Antara/Rivan Awal Lingga) (Antara/Rivan Awal Lingga)
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inance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro has stressed the importance of Indonesia staying alert amid global economic uncertainty which could put pressure on many countries around the world.
'Is a global economic slowdown happening now? The answer is: Yes. But for me, this is not the main problem we should be concerned about. What we must pay close attention to is global economic uncertainty which could pose a threat to every country,' he said as quoted by Antara in Jakarta on Thursday.
Stay alert: Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro says Indonesia must pay close attention to global economic uncertainty which could pose a threat to all countries. (Antara/Rivan Awal Lingga)
The minister said all parties, both government and business, needed to be anticipative of and responsive to dynamic global economic developments.
'Who would have predicted that China would devalue the yuan? And it's even predicted that the yuan devaluation will continue either in stages or in hidden ways,' he said.
Bambang asserted that Indonesia's current economic condition was different to the one seen in 1998, especially in terms of the country's economic fundamentals. Currently, Indonesia's account deficit is better [than in 1998] and the inflation rate is more controlled.
'In 1998, we didn't guard our macro stability and got lured into a false sense of security by our high economic growth. But now, we tightly safeguard our stability,' said Bambang.
He added that the capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of Indonesia's banking sector was quite good, sitting above 20 percent, while non-performing loans (NPL) are at 2.5 percent.
'Meanwhile the loan-to-deposit ratio [LDR] has declined to 85 percent from 92 percent. So our liquidity is available. One thing we are still waiting for is investment by business players. I understand that they still want to wait and see. They remain worried about the US dollar's movements,' said Bambang. (edn/ebf)
