National

Government Issues New Energy and Monetary Policies
Wednesday, 31 August, 2005 | 20:15 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The Indonesian government is to issue new policies to deal with current monetary problems in Indonesia, particularly due to the weakening value of the Rupiah against the US dollar and increasing oil prices on the international market.

“We will soon announce the policies related to energy and monetary problems,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told 700 foreign investors at the Foreign Investment for Development Indonesia event at the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta on Tuesday(30/08).

According to President Yudhoyono, the policies made in the energy sector include adjusting fuel prices in line with market prices, reduces fuel subsidies, increasing subsidies for poor people, diversifying energy, conserving energy, increasing domestic production of fuel, building new oil refineries and dealing with fuel smuggling.

In the monetary sector, the government has also supported efforts made by Bank Indonesia in settling the problem of the weakening Rupiah.

The government has also convinced the market and the general public that fiscal tenacity is still good.

In the investment sector, according to Yudhoyono, the draft bill on investment will soon be presented to parliament.

The President guaranteed that this law would be investor-friendly and would ensure similar treatment to domestic as well as foreign investors.

“This law guarantees that there will be no nationalization in terms of investment or the return of profits to the state,” stated Yudhoyono. (Sutarto-Tempo News Room)