Taking stock

President Soeharto, in his speech before a plenary session of the House of Representatives on Saturday, emphasized the importance of prudence on the part of both the government and the community in braving the current monetary developments.

The President asked everyone concerned to make their businesses projections in a reasonable and realistic manner. "This means that both business and the government must be careful in choosing their projects and determine what must be given precedence and what can be delayed," the President said.

The statement does not necessarily mean that businesses and the government must delay their projects. What is desired is caution, no unbridled offshore borrowing and taking precautions to minimize any possible effects of the current monetary upset.

Naturally, this also goes for our consumptive behavior, which is quite often irrational, as people tend to prefer anything foreign over our own domestic products.

We must also be rational in our handling of inflationary pressures -- that is to say that if such pressures should tend to occur due to our own low economic efficiency, then this is where our target for improvement should be. The business community should not be made to pay the price, for example, by putting limits on needed credit expansions.

There is no need for us to panic. The important thing is to make the necessary adjustments. The government should continue its deregulation and debureaucratization programs in order to eliminate distortions and get rid of our high-cost economy. In this manner, all our economic actors will be able to move with agility and efficiency.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta