U.S. seeks more economic support for Indonesia

U.S. seeks more economic support for Indonesia

Endy M. Bayuni, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The United States is looking for more ways to support
Indonesia pursue its economic reform agenda, a visiting senior
official of the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

Randal K. Quarles, assistant secretary for international
affairs, told reporters that he was encouraged by the economic
progress Indonesia had made these last 18 months, as evident by
the country's increasing macroeconomic stability.

Quarles, who met with a number of senior Indonesian economics
ministers as well as business leaders during his two-day visit to
Indonesia, said that on his return to Washington, he would be
looking at ways on how the United States could help Indonesia
move along the economic reform program, as worked out jointly
with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"I've been very pleased by what I was hearing from the trip.
We would like to see Indonesia stay on this course," he said
during a media briefing about his trip held at the residence of
U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Ralph L. Boyce.

"There's obviously more to do," he added.

He declined to give specific details about the additional U.S.
support, nor would he comment on whether this would translate
into more money becoming available for Indonesia.

However, he said he was quite hopeful that the disbursement of
the next IMF loan tranche to Indonesia, delayed since September,
would soon take place.

Quarles served as the United States executive director at the
IMF from August 2001 until March this year. As the single largest
shareholder of the IMF, the United States is key to many of the
IMF's major decisions, including on Indonesia.

The IMF board has delayed the latest disbursement pending
guarantees from Jakarta about a number of issues that have not
been resolved on time.

"These problems would be addressed in the next couple of
weeks," he said confidently.

Quarles rejected the characterization that the U.S. economic
support for Indonesia was "conditional" to Jakarta's cooperation
in Washington's war on terror.

The Treasury Department, however, was interested in
Indonesia's efforts at combating the financing of terrorism, he
admitted.

Quarles said he raised the subject during his meetings with
the Indonesian economics ministers, and that the United States
was appreciative about the level of cooperation that Jakarta had
given on this particular front in the war against terror.

Quarles' ringing endorsement of the Indonesian economy was
somewhat at odds with the State Department's travel advisory
warning Americans not to visit Indonesia, which was issued in the
wake of the bomb attacks in Bali on Oct. 12 that killed nearly
200 people, mostly foreigners.

When asked about this, he said that based on his meetings with
foreign business leaders in Jakarta, "security does not appear to
be a major obstacle to investment, or economic growth".

"The issues that are most important to business is not
security, but the business and investment climate," he said.

Quarles hoped that the Indonesian economy, and in particular
the Balinese economy, would quickly recover from the impact of
the Oct. 12 terrorist attacks.

He recalled that tourism in Egypt was badly affected by a
massacre of tourists in the Luxor resort in 1997, but within 12
months the country saw the level of visitors return to as high as
before the attack. Similarly, New York was able to recover
quickly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, he noted.

Quarles has a personal, if not romantic, reason for wanting to
see Bali recover quickly -- he spent his honeymoon on the island
in 1997.

"I will be the first person to encourage people to go to Bali
as soon as the travel advisory is lifted," he said.