PRESIDENT : DRAFT 2010 STATE BUDGET GREATLY INFLUENCED BY GLOBAL CRISIS

Jakarta, Aug 3 (ANTARA) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the bill on the 2010 State Budget is different from that of the previous year as it was greatly affected by the global economic crisis situation.

"The bill on the 2010 State Budget is a transitional one which will be implemented by the new government resulting from the 2009 general elections," the President said in his state-of-the-nation address to an extraordinary plenary session of the House of Representatives (DPR) here Monday.

The drafting of the bill on the 2010 state budget has been greatly influenced by the global economic crisis, which is still going on, and will affect the projections of world economic performance, including Indonesia in 2010, he said.

During the five-year implementation of the Medium Term of the National Development Plan (RPJMN) for the 2004-2009 period, the national economic development had not been immune to the influence of global economic dynamics, he said.

The national economic development had also been affected by the global oil prices fluctuations, food and other commodity prices.

"In spite of numerous obstacles, with responsive and appropriate policy measures, serious efforts and hard work, we have succeeded to manage the economy and maintain a relatively stable and satisfactory business climate," Yudhoyono said.

"Thank God, we have subsequently been able to improve the people's welfare. We continue carrying out the national development in order to reach an adequately high economic growth with the purpose of lowering the poverty level and creating employment opportunity," the president said.

The development policies which are pro-growth, pro-poor and pro-job remain the top priorities, he noted.

The president said further that apart from being aimed reaching the prioritized development targets in the Government Work Plan(RKP) 2010, the formulation of the bill on the state budget is also based on the following macro economic assumption.

The economic growth is predicted to be around 5 percent, inflation rate at 5 percent, average rupiah exchange rate at Rp10,000 per US$1, average 3-month Bank Indonesia Certificate (SBI) interest rate at 6.5 percent, Indonesia's crude oil price in the international market at US$60 per barrel and Indonesia's crude oil lifting is expected to reach 965,000 barrels per day.