High bank interest rates

It appears to be too much to hope that interest rates at banks will decline anywhere in the near future. Does this mean that a second recession will hit this country's economy? That is what many people fear, including investors. That's why they prefer to defer from investing or move their investments elsewhere.

However not everybody views Indonesia's economic future with pessimism. The Asian Development Bank, for example, believes that such apprehensions are exaggerated. It believes that there is still room for growth.

Hubert Neiss, the IMF's former director, also believes that the Indonesian economy could still grow. However, he also warns that the Indonesian monetary authority should not maintain high interest rates for too long, as that would adversely affect the real sector as well as the national economy in its entirety.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta