RI's per capita income will be $1,000 by 1999

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's per capita income will reach US$1,000 a year by the end of the current Sixth Five Year Plan (Repelita VI) in 1998/99, according to the country's leading statistician.

Chief of the Central Bureau of Statistics Soegito said that he is confident that if the present rate continues, Indonesia will be able to break the $1,000 mark within the next four years.

"The increase will happen barring extraordinary circumstances such as a major economic recession or a devaluation of the currency," Soegito said.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with President Soeharto, he said the statistics agency has juggled the way it computes the per capita income figure, now using 1993 as the base year instead of 1983 as in the past.

This means that the annual per capita income in Indonesia in 1993 is $767, well above the $650-680 previously estimated using 1983 as the base year.

Soegito said the change was necessary to better reflect the current state of the economy which has changed dramatically over the last 10 years. He cited in particular the economy's lessening dependence on the oil sector and the increasing role of tourism.

His prediction confirms a World Bank forecast of a few years ago which suggested that Indonesia's per capita income should reach the $1,000 mark by the turn of the century.

The Indonesian economy has been growing at an average rate of 6.8 percent over the last 25 years.

The annual per capita incomes in neighboring countries are $18,000 in Singapore, $3,230 in Malaysia and $850 in the Philippines.

Soegito yesterday was reporting to President Soeharto following his appointment last month to head the statistic agency. He was accompanied by his deputy Hartini Hasan.

He also disclosed that the President will strive to maintain the inflation rate, which is computed by the agency, to less than 10 percent this year.

Soegito said that the key to this lies in controlling the price of rice for the next three months given that the price of the commodity carries strong weight in the way the consumer price index is calculated.

Inflation in the first eight months of 1994 has already reached 6.85 percent largely because of the hikes in rice prices which followed crop failures in some areas because of the prolonged dry season.

Soegito said the government is prepared to import rice to beef up its stocks and control the market prices. (emb)