Australian academics criticize IMF<\/p>\n
CANBERRA (Reuters): The International Monetary Fund was
\naccused of mismanaging and even exacerbating Indonesia's economic
\ntroubles during an academic seminar on the Asian currency crisis
\nin Canberra yesterday.<\/p>\n
Ross McLeod, an academic in the Indonesia Research Project at
\nthe Australian National University's economics division, said the
\nIMF has mishandled the Indonesian situation and taken the country
\nfrom a bad economic crisis to a worse political crisis.<\/p>\n
\"The crisis is not yet solved. As long as the IMF has been
\nthere the crisis has gone from bad to worse to really terrible,\"
\nsaid McLeod, speaking at the public seminar on the currency
\ncrisis and its impact on Australia.<\/p>\n
\"I think we can now say (the IMF) package has failed in the
\nsense that the rupiah has not recovered and there is no end in
\nsight. What began as a financial crisis ... has been very badly
\nmismanaged. It has now become a fully fledged political crisis.\"<\/p>\n
McLeod defended President Soeharto's proposal to implement a
\ncurrency board to peg the rupiah to the U.S. dollar, saying it
\nshould not be dismissed as an alternative to the IMF without
\nfurther study.<\/p>\n
\"The resolution to the crisis must involve the rupiah
\nstrengthening a great deal. Somehow that needs to be made to
\nhappen (and) the currency board idea is one alternative which
\nhasn't been given proper consideration.\"<\/p>\n
He said the IMF was using the crisis to impose long-sought-
\nafter economic reform on Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"It seems to me that the IMF has seen in this crisis an
\nopportunity to hit Indonesia, or specifically the President,
\nwhile he's in a weak position,\" McLeod said.<\/p>\n
\"The IMF has virtually imposed a whole stream of micro-
\neconomic reforms on Indonesia which (it) has been asking for many
\nyears.\"<\/p>\n
He said two paths to Indonesia's restoration lay ahead: a
\nlong, slow grind to recovery or a revolution to overthrow the
\ncurrent government and \"start from scratch\".<\/p>\n
Alan DuPont of the university's strategic and defense center
\nsaid he had no doubt the situation in Indonesia would deteriorate
\nfurther, with social and political tensions rising.<\/p>\n
But if the unrest led to an exodus of people from Indonesia
\nthey would more likely flow north into Malaysia, with its
\nfamiliar language and culture, rather than Australia, he said.<\/p>\n
Western officials are concerned regional stability could decay
\nif Soeharto continues to avoid IMF reforms and they have called
\non the IMF to give Indonesia a more flexible package to avoid
\nfurther civil unrest from soaring food prices.<\/p>\n
The IMF has provided a US$43 billion bailout package for the
\nbeleaguered country, which has seen a 70 percent devaluation in
\nits rupiah currency since the crisis began. Australia has pledged
\n$1 billion to the IMF package.<\/p>\n
In Paris, French Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn urged
\nyesterday the Indonesian government to implement economic reforms
\nlaid out in an IMF package.<\/p>\n
There is \"no other solution but to implement the main points\"
\nof the reform program agreed with the IMF as a condition for a
\nmultibillion dollar international aid package, Strauss-Kahn told
\na press briefing.<\/p>\n
If the program is not implemented \"it will be serious for
\nIndonesia but could also have an effect on the overall stability
\nof the region which is beginning to recover,\" he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/australian-academics-criticize-imf-1447893297",
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