National Economic Upheaval To Redece Soon: Minister

Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, Sept 19 (Antara) - State Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan said he believes that the national economic uncertainty should end soon following the US Federal Reserve`s (Fed) decision to continue with its economic stimulus package. "I would have cancelled my visit to Banjarmasin if the US central bank had decided to cut the stimulus during a meeting last night," he stated at the opening of the 13th Congress of the Association of Indonesian Journalists here on Thursday. He said on Wednesday night that all ministers concerned with the economy had gathered to wait for the decision of the Fed, which was expected to impact the global economy. "If the (Fed`s) decision is positive, we will face an economic tsunami, whose signs have been felt so far," he said. Luckily the decision was positive, given that the U.S. central bank decided not to cut its economic stimulus and consequently billions of U.S. dollars were expected to flow into the country again and the Indonesian rupiah would immediately strengthen, Dahlan pointed out. The minister said the government had actually been prepared with certain strategies aimed at cushioning the impact of the decision, in case the Fed decided to tighten its stimulus policy. "Although the decision was relieving, we will continue to implement these strategies," he said. He noted that the country was suffering from several problems, including an imbalance between imports and exports, with imports being higher than exports. The national food industry was also not performing as well as before, he explained. To overcome the situation, he added, Indonesians needed to transform themselves from currently being a trading community to an industrial community. "Although we know that the industry is more complicated and difficult than trade because industrialists deal with cost of production including labor costs, and laborers have been forced to conduct demonstrations," Dahlan pointed out. Becoming traders was easier but it was not good for the country as it had increased their reliance on imports, he said. Dahlan further stated that the country�s second problem was fuel imports, which were very high and had touched US$180 million a day, forcing Pertamina--the state-owned oil and gas company--to pay the amount in U.S. dollars every day, which had rendered the country "trapped by the dollar." The minister also said that such a situation must be stopped by reducing imports and saving the use of energy that will be done soon through various ways. The third scenario included overcoming the problem by ensuring that all domestic transactions by state-owned companies were done in the rupiah and not the U.S. dollar, he said.