RI comitted to economic reform: Minister

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia is pledging its grave commitment to carry through on economic reforms but stressed that it still needs international support, Coordinating Minister for Economy, Finance and Industry Ginandjar Kartasasmita has said.

"This is not just lip service," Ginandjar told a media briefing Saturday after another meeting with International Monetary Fund (IMF) representatives to review the reform programs.

"As the President has said, the economic reforms are an exigency of Indonesia and must be done with or without any help," he said.

"But without a doubt (the reforms) will be easier to carry out and will be guaranteed of success if we have the help of the international community."

He said international support and assistance were needed not only because of the country's limited human resources and experience, but also to return confidence to its reform programs, especially in the business sector.

Ginandjar, who is also chairman of the National Development Planning Board, said the government's negotiations with the IMF would come into completion tomorrow, after the Moslem holiday Idul Adha.

Indonesia and the IMF have been holding marathon meetings here since March 18 to review the economic reform package agreed to and signed by President Soeharto in January in exchange for an IMF-sponsored US$43 billion bailout package.

Indonesia later complained that the package, containing 50 stringent measures, failed to resolve the crisis, and some of the points could not be implemented because they could prompt social unrest.

Negotiations seem to have partly softened the IMF, as it has approved the continuation of some subsidies for food essentials and fuel, which initially should have been eliminated on April 1, until the situation allowed them to be phased out.

Last Thursday, IMF deputy managing director Stanley Fischer said after meeting Soeharto that the second $3 billion tranche of the rescue package could be disbursed two weeks after a letter of intent had been signed by both parties.

Ginandjar said Fischer's visit helped the completion of the reviewing process, especially on matters regarding the country's huge private loans, which had not been addressed in the January agreement.

"Mr. Fischer helped solve some of the points in the economic reforms which still had to be settled," he said.

He said the new programs were expected to restore the country's economic condition, which had crumbled since the rupiah sharply fell from 2,450 against the dollar last July to about 8,500 currently.

However, Ginandjar said improvement involved a process. "We learned a valuable lessons from other countries, which experienced economic and financial difficulties like ours, that the process is long."

"The reforms are not Aladdin's magic lamp. If the reforms are being implemented, people must not expect the rupiah to immediately shoot up to 5,000," he said.

He said the country needed to work hard and to firmly stick to its commitment for reforms, and it would need to sacrifice much in the beginning.

"Because this is our own needs, we will carry out the reforms wholeheartedly," he said.

"There needs to be no doubt whatsoever of our commitment." (08/das)