Challenges and chances seen for RI economy
Challenges and chances seen for RI economy
WASHINGTON (Agencies): Indonesia has the potential to share in Asia's
strong recovery from the financial crisis of 1997-99 but must still tackle
problems of corruption and bad governance, U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence
Summers said on Friday.
Summers, speaking to reporters ahead of a week-long trip to Indonesia and
other Asian countries, said Indonesia was at "a particularly critical
juncture."
"There's now been substantial repair from the depths of the Asian
financial crisis but Indonesia has not yet fully shared in that recovery,"
Summers said.
"But we believe it has the potential to do so. With a relatively new
government in place, this is a major moment of opportunity for Indonesia.
But very large issues of corruption and of governance remain and will need
to be managed going forward."
Indonesia was the second major Asian economy to turn to the IMF for help,
winning a $42 billion international rescue deal including some $10 billion
from the IMF in November 1997.
But the government took a zig-zag course on some crucial economic reforms
and the country's recovery from the crisis-induced depression lags that of
other nations in the region.
Summers also said he would stress the need for closer ties between
industrialized and developing countries while visiting Indonesia and India
this week.
His visit comes ahead of a Jan. 22 meeting in Tokyo of central bankers
and finance ministers from the G7 countries.
Summers said the backlash against free trade seen at the World Trade
Organization conference last month in Seattle, Washington, made this an
appropriate time to visit these countries.
"After Seattle, after the Asian financial crisis, the defining
international economic challenge of the next century is managing the
integration between the industrial and developing countries," Summers said.
"India, as the largest democracy in the world, has always represented a
major voice for the developing countries' perspectives," the treasury
secretary continued.
According to some projections, India and Indonesia may emerge as the two
of the three largest economies in the world, Summers said, underscoring the
need for these countries to have an active voice in how to manage the
increasingly integrated global economy.
Summers said he had no intention of negotiating specific trade deals with
New Delhi on his trip.
Nor will he make any determination about sanctions that are still in
place following India's nuclear tests in May 1998, he said.
"I hope to get a healthy assessment of the Indian economy, and the
process of reform in India," said Summers, who will meet with social
workers, business leaders and politicians during his three-day visit to
Bombay, New Delhi, and Bangalore.
In Jakarta, where he will meet with Indonesian President Abdurrahman
Wahid, Summers said he would urge the new government to tackle the issues
of corruption it has inherited.
Summers also noted that has Indonesia has yet to share fully in the
economic recovery that has emerged in the region.