Debt and economies crisis sinking RI<\/p>\n
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
With US$139 billion in foreign debt coupled with a crippling
\neconomic crisis, Indonesia is like a ship that has almost sunk.<\/p>\n
That was the figure of speech that Vice President Hamzah Haz
\nused on Monday to describe how Indonesia was in the middle of a
\nlife-and-death battle for survival.<\/p>\n
\"It's a good thing that the 'ship' has not sunk, as many have
\nfeared,\" he said, when addressing the National Love Flowers and
\nFauna Day.<\/p>\n
Hamzah was defending the government's views on the bleak
\neconomic prospects that President Megawati Soekarnoputri had
\nacknowledged in her accountability speech to the People's
\nConsultative Assembly on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Hamzah said the country's crisis was due to an accumulation of
\nproblems and the mishandling of economic activities over the past
\nthree decades.<\/p>\n
The heaviest burden that Indonesia has to shoulder is foreign
\ndebt, which consists of $72 billion in government debt and $67
\nbillion in private debt as of April, according to the Indonesian
\ncentral bank.<\/p>\n
The sinking economy is only one problem, Hamzah said. There is
\na host of others, such as environmental destruction and acute
\nsocial ills.<\/p>\n
Critics say that the Megawati administration has done little
\nto assist the economic recovery. Nothing has improved since she
\nascended the presidency three months ago.<\/p>\n
\"When they say that over the last 100 days the government
\neconomic team has not yet achieved anything, I say it is
\nfortunate that the country has not sunk yet,\" Hamzah remarked.<\/p>\n
\"Our economic condition is very critical, every aspect of our
\nlife is in danger ...,\" he added.<\/p>\n
He said that economic indicators showed the country should
\nalready have sunk due to the mismanagement of resources in the
\npast three decades, so it would be impossible to see signs of
\nrecovery very soon.<\/p>\n
Hamzah said the government had to recover some Rp 600 trillion
\n(US$600 million) of losses from the private sector, which
\ncollapsed after being hit by the economic crisis in 1997.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/debt-and-economies-crisis-sinking-ri-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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