PKS WANTS SOME STATE BUDGET ASSUMPTIONS REVISED

Jakarta, Aug 14 (ANTARA) - The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) faction in the House of Representatives (DPR) Friday called for revision of several macro economic assumptions in the draft 2010 state budget arguing they did not reflect the current developments.

"Several macro economic assumptions in the draft 2010 state budget need to be evaluated to raise optimism about economic recovery," the faction's spokesman, Rama Pratama said.

Rama made the remarks when delivering the faction's general views on the draft 2010 state budget at the DPR's plenary meeting.

Actually, the economic growth in the past two years showed remarkable achievement which was worth appreciating, he said.

"While many countries saw negative economic growth as a result of the global economic crisis, in 2008 the Indonesian economy grew 6.1 percent," he said.

The performance was inseparable from the government's policies and therefore, the government should revise upward the economic growth target of 5 percent for 2010, he said.

"What is more, we want to maintain a momentum of growth in the 2004-2008 period where the economy grew by an average of 6 percent," he said.

The faction also called on the government to revise the assumed crude oil price of US$60 a barrel in the draft 2010 state budget.

"As of today crude oil price reaches US$70 a barrel. We must take a lesson from experience in 2009 when the state budget deviated highly from the initial assumptions because of unrealistic prediction about a trend in global crude prices," he said.