Businesspeople disappointed by govt revelation

JAKARTA (JP): Government explanations on the budget and financial matters to businesspeople were disappointing as they did not address the most basic issue on how to revive local businesses, a businessman said yesterday.

Property businessman Muhammad Hidayat said after attending a 1998/1999 budget briefing at the Ministry of Finance yesterday that he was disappointed by government explanations which he said were very superficial.

"I'm disappointed because the government did not give clear and direct answers to our concerns. Their explanations, as usual, were vague," Hidayat said.

"When I asked what the government would do to revive dying businesses, I was given a circular answer," he said.

The budget briefing, which was closed to the media, was attended by about 100 businesspeople.

On hand at the briefing were Coordinating Minister for Economy and Finance Saleh Afiff, Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad, Minister of Industry and Trade Tunky Ariwibowo, Minister of Forestry Djamaluddin Suryohadikusumo and Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief.

Hidayat, former chairman of the Indonesian Association of Real Estate Developers, said the government did not give any indication of when the tight monetary policy would end.

"Mar'ie said if liquidity was eased, the money would not go to businesses. He feared the money would be used by irresponsible people to speculate on the dollar," he said.

"That's an excessive fear on the part of the government. The government should hear our concerns.

"We really want the government to supply more liquidity and press down bank lending rates. During this situation, no single bank dares to disburse credit to us," he said.

If the government continued to keep liquidity tight and interest rates high, Hidayat predicted 80 percent of businesses in the property sector would go under.

Last year alone, he said, 1.4 million people lost their jobs due to the crisis.

This year, he predicted, two million people would be unemployed. They would mainly come from the property sector.

"So what the government really wants is unclear. I'm really disappointed," he said.

Businessman Iman Taufik said the government was transparent in giving their explanations pertaining to the state budget.

"After hearing government explanations on the 1998/1999 budget, I've become more optimistic that we can reach 4 percent growth this year," he said.

Iman, a chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the government should help disburse loans to businesses, especially small and medium ones, to prevent more layoffs.

He repeated the chamber's call that all domestic transactions be done in rupiah, rather than in dollars, to ease pressure on the rupiah.

The chairman of the Indonesian Importers Association, Amirudin Saud, shared the chamber's suggestion and said the government should require all importers, when importing goods, to open letters of credit to monitor the use of dollars.

He also called on the government to require all people transferring dollars abroad worth more than US$50,000 to declare the purpose of doing so.

"If the purpose is not clear, the government should impose a tax on such transfers," Amirudin said. (rid)