The new finance minister, Agus Martowardojo, said he would continue the fiscal and monetary policies pursued by his predecessor Sri Mulyani while anticipating the impact of the financial crisis in Greece.
"On Sunday, yesterday, we met with Bank Indonesia officials to among other things discuss anticipation of the impact of the crisis in Europe, Greece in particular," he said at the finance ministry building here on Tuesday.
Agus said due to their preoccupation with the high-profile Bank Century case, the finance ministry and the central bank had during the past months often skipped their regular consultative meetings.
"The impact of the crisis in Europe can be very serious for Indonesia and therefore it must be anticipated," he said.
He said the finance ministry`s position was very strategic in Indonesia with its task wide ranging from monitoring capital market and financial institutions to customs and excise, debt, tax and others.
"We are managing around Rp1,500 trillion in debt. If we are not clean, creditors will become nervous," he said.
He said the finance ministry and Bank Indonesia in the meeting agreed to create a regulation on financial sector safety network which was urgently needed.
"We are indeed worried that a crisis will occur while the protocol to deal with it is not yet ready. We do not wish to be unprepared for a sudden crisis. Therefore, we soon prepare new fiscal and monetary policies," he said.
Source: ANTARA News, 25 May 2010
