Oil price may hurt economy: Susilo

Oil price may hurt economy: Susilo

JAKARTA: Indonesian President-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono vowed Friday to find a solution to rising oil prices, which he said could hurt the global economy.

Crude oil futures eased slightly to US$54.58 at 1300 GMT on electronic after-hours trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a day after a decline in the U.S. inventory of heating oil roiled a market already on edge over tight supplies, high demand and unrest among key producers.

Yudhoyono "complained that the current high oil prices in the world market could harm either Indonesia's or the global economy," said presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal, following a meeting between the incoming leader and ambassadors of other Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

OPEC President Purnomo Yusgiantoro is also Indonesia's energy minister, a post some insiders say he is likely to retain in a Yudhoyono Cabinet. -- AP