---------------------------------------------------------- FREE for JOIN Indonesia Daily News Online via EMAIL: go to: http://www.indo-news.com/subscribe.html - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ---------------------------------------------------------- Indonesia projects GDP growth at 1.5-2.5 percent, pledges more audits JAKARTA, July 23 (AFP) - Indonesia's latest letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released here Friday targets real gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 1.5-2.5 percent for the year to March 2000. The figure is up from the previous target of zero-2.0 percent set in May, and in sharp contrast to last year's 14-percent slump in GDP as Indonesia reeled from its worst economic crisis in decades. The letter also promised that a new round of audits would be carried out on Indonesia's state companies, in line with IMF-mandated reforms in return for a 46-billion-dollar bailout package given at the height of the crisis. "Growth prospects are benefiting from improving market sentiment, higher agricultural incomes, and recovering consumption demand," the document said. It set an inflation target of between four and five percent for this calendar year, compared to below 10 percent in the May letter. Gross foreign exchange reserves are projected at between 27.5 and 28.5 billion dollars, while the current account surplus is seen at 2.5 billion dollars or 1.5 percent of GDP. The government said audits of state oil firm PT Pertamina, the state electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) and the National Logistics Board (Bulog) would be published by August 31. An audit of the government's Reforestation Fund, meanwhile, will be finished by the end of August and published by October 31, it said. "A second round of special audits for enterprises with strategic significance and public exposure has been drawn up," it said. "The list includes the principal national airline (Garuda Indonesia), the toll road operators, the port corporations and the domestic telecommunications company." The second round will be completed by the end of December and the results published afterwards, it pledged. A leaked audit of Pertamina by IMF-appointed accountants PriceWaterhouseCooper Australia Ltd. has already caused embarrassment here, showing the company had lost 6.2 billion dollars in the past two years owing to "avoidable costs." Hints have also appeared in the press of the extent of corruption found in the Bulog audit, suggesting a figure of some 15 billion dollars lost over a similar period, but those reports have not been confirmed. The IMF letter of intent said higher electricity prices for industrial users and large households are being contemplated because of the difficult financial position of PLN. The document said, however, that electricity tariffs for small households would not be revised in the near term in order to achieve better targeting of electricity subsidies. The government said the macroeconomic policy mix was becoming much more supportive of a recovery and that it was still targeting a fiscal deficit of 5.8 percent of GDP. It added that "over the past year the monetary policy has delivered positive outcomes in terms of price stability, lower interest rates and positive interest-rate spreads." On the rupiah, the letter said "the flexible exchange-rate system is accommodating the appreciation of the currency toward its medium-term equilibrium, and enjoys wide consensus." On trade, it said that from March to May the country's export performance was "encouraging." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 23 Jul 1999 jam 11:43:04 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
