Kadin not too happy with economics team

Kadin not too happy with economics team

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Confidence among the business community toward the economics team
of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is gradually declining, due
to its failure to reduce the high-cost economy as well as provide
clear-cut economic policies for the long run.

Even a stout supporter of the economics team, the country's
powerful business lobby group the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce
and Industry (Kadin), has found the courage to openly criticize
the team.

"Frankly speaking, the business community is now skeptical
about the team, particularly about its efforts to address the
classic problems of high-cost economy and smuggling, which have
scared away investors," Kadin chairman Mohamad S. Hidayat told
The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

The corrupt bureaucracy -- the root of the high-cost economy
-- remains untouched by the reform drives promoted by the
economics team.

Hidayat was commenting on the performance of the current
economics team in the Cabinet -- almost a year since it took
office. The comments came only days after Vice President Jusuf
Kalla defended the team's performance amid criticism that it had
failed to successfully tackle the country's economic ills.

Kalla said the economy had in fact seen progress under the new
administration and that issues such as the weakening rupiah and
the fuel price increases were attributable more to external
instead of internal factors.

Hidayat was apparently not convinced.

"The economics ministers have come up with their own
blueprint. However, it is not fully applicable since there are no
concrete steps, time frames or parameters on how to implement it.
Without that, the blueprint remains rhetoric," he said.

It is due to the lack of concrete and comprehensive planning
that the economics team failed to anticipate the impact of higher
global oil prices, which has in turn dealt a heavy blow to the
country's hard-gained monetary and fiscal stability.

Due to the fuel price increases alone, the economic growth
forecast for this year had to be slashed from 6.0 percent to 5.7
percent.

"The performance of the economics team is far from what many
had expected, as it cannot anticipate changes in the economy. All
of their economic assumptions have missed the mark," said
economist-turned-legislator Dradjat Wibowo.

Dradjat said several of the economics ministers always
downplayed future economic threats in order to cover up their
incompetency and to please the public.

"When the rupiah was plunging uncontrollably, Minister of
Finance Jusuf Anwar simply said 'don't worry, be happy' despite
the fact that President Susilo took the problem seriously. This
is a sign that Jusuf did not have a good understanding of the
problem."

Economist Faisal Basri insisted that the government had to
introduce impressive policies to improve the economy, such as by
reforming the tax and customs regime, and eliminating the high-
cost economy in order to regain business confidence.

"I actually feel sorry for President Susilo as he is bearing
the brunt of the curses from the public as a result of the
incompetency of his economics ministers. Susilo should realize
that it is time to change the economics team," said Faisal.