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strong>Sept. 3, p1

International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde has praised the government'€™s policies in the realm of economics, saying the country is on the right track for economic reform.

She said that even though a further economic slowdown was still possible in the near future given the recent spike in global risk aversion and financial market volatility, Indonesia found itself on the right path to reform and prosperity.

Lagarde emphasized that the recent fuel subsidy cut had helped the government maintain a solid fiscal policy within the limits already set by the legislators.

The government began implementing a new energy policy earlier this year when it completely removed a subsidy for the widely used Premium gasoline and imposed a fixed subsidy for diesel and kerosene.

The fuel subsidy overhaul has created more than Rp 150 trillion (US$10.62 billion) in fiscal space that the government has allocated to for infrastructure, health and other programs.

Infrastructure-related spending received a budget allocation of around Rp 281 trillion in 2015, the highest level since 2005.

Moreover, the IMF applauded the monetary policies set by BI, especially in relation to the exchange rate.

Your comments:

Guess they needed the increase in loans after all those foreign investors Jokowi promised big wads of cash never showed up. I can assure you, that loan increase for infrastructure will come with strings attached.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) isn'€™t going to throw its money away by giving it to Indonesia, just to have it disappear in corruption and graft.

So expect a lot of Chinese workers and contractors here to make sure the projects actually get started and completed.

SD

The ADB is afraid of the new China construction fund?

Abdul Malik