Markets down a bit on SBY's Cabinet<\/p>\n
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Jakarta stock market tumbled on Thursday amid reservations
\nfrom investors over the Cabinet of President Susilo Bambang
\nYudhoyono, specifically the ministers dealing with money matters.<\/p>\n
Some market analysts theorized that the team may be unwilling
\nto push through badly needed economic reform programs.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Composite Index ended at 0.79 percent or 6.622
\npoints lower at 834.169, off its intraday low of 824.597,
\nextending losses for the seventh consecutive day.<\/p>\n
"The market expected too much from the new President. They are
\nexpecting figures who can bring drastic economic reforms, but it
\nturns out to be fairly disappointing," said stock and currency
\nanalyst Ryan Kiryanto of Bank BNI.<\/p>\n
Ryan said the market had never expected that Yusuf Anwar would
\nbe appointed as finance minister, nor did it expect that Aburizal
\nBakrie would be named Coordinating Minister for the Economy.<\/p>\n
Yusuf, a veteran finance ministry bureaucrat, is considered a
\nfigure with links to the past governments and does not reflect
\nthe drive for sweeping changes in economic management.<\/p>\n
Yusuf was the secretary-general of the Ministry of Finance
\nduring the Soeharto era in 1993.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Aburizal is a business tycoon who is also a
\npolitician from the Golkar Party. Several analysts have
\ncriticized him for his companies' poor record in repaying debts
\nto international creditors after the Asian financial crisis in
\nlate 1997.<\/p>\n
The disappointment came as Susilo selected his Cabinet,
\napparently with eye on balancing political appointees with
\nprofessionals, in order to make enough compromises to appease
\nwhat could become a hostile House of Representatives. His small
\npolitical party, the Democratic Party only controls 10 percent of
\nHouse seats.<\/p>\n
However, it seems that the professionals may have also been
\nselected based on input from politicians, thus causing suspicions
\non the part of investors that the economic ministers were
\nselected based on "horse-trading".<\/p>\n
"I think during their first 100 days in office they will
\nmostly focus on trying to adapt among themselves. This is just a
\nwaste of time. Yusuf and Aburizal should immediately lay out the
\ngovernment's short-term programs in order to raise market
\nconfidence," said Ryan.<\/p>\n
Analysts feared that a failure by the ministers to come up
\nwith concrete policy actions within the first 100 days would
\ncause business confidence in the new government to decline, and
\neventually hamper the country's efforts to tackle skyrocketing
\nunemployment.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, disappointment over the Cabinet apparently was the
\ncause of a drop in the local currency. The rupiah weakened to Rp
\n9,115 against the U.S. dollar on Thursday from Rp 9,080 on
\nWednesday.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/markets-down-a-bit-on-sbys-cabinet-1447893297",
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