Jakarta, May 15 (Antara) - The successive two day bomb attacks that left 22 people dead, including 10 suicide bombers in Surabaya on Sunday and Monday did not significantly affect the Indonesian economy.
According to Rino Donosepoetro, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Indonesia, the suicide bomb attacks in Surabaya would not seriously affect Indonesia's economic growth. "The bomb attack is verily deplorable. I am convinced the people in Indonesia are already mature and the incident will not seriously affect Indonesia's economy which we have predicted that it will increase," Donosepoetro said on Monday.
He is of the view that the suicide bombings would not cause a setback in the Indonesian economy, expressing his optimism that the Indonesian economic fundamental is very strong.
On Sunday and Monday (May 13-14), East Java was rocked by suicide bomb attacks, killing 22 people, including 10 attackers. The bomb attacks took place at three churches on Sunday morning and at the Surabaya Police Headquarters on Monday.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati stated that the government will continue to maintain investor confidence following the terrorist bombings in Surabaya last Sunday, so that the momentum of economic growth is not hindered.
"Of course, we are concerned to not allow a terror attack to erode the confidence and positive perception of the economy," Mulyani emphasized.
Mulyani noted that economic activities of the community were increasing along with an improvement in household consumption, investment, and export performance that recorded a positive growth in the first quarter of 2018.
To this end, the government will continue to communicate with investors and market participants that the existing policy has strengthened the economic foundation, so as not to be vulnerable to internal and external disturbances.
"We are maintaining the momentum of our current strong economic growth and upholding all policies on improving investment, exports, and purchasing power," Mulyani remarked.
Mulyani had earlier noted that the Indonesian government will always protect investor confidence from the impact of bomb attacks in Surabaya, so that the momentum of economic growth will not be disrupted.
"Of course, we have an interest in preventing the impact of the bomb attacks from eliminating confidence in and positive perception of the economy," she remarked here on Monday.
She noted that economic activities of the public are increasing, along with the improving performance of household consumption, investment, and exports that recorded a positive growth in the first quarter of 2018.
To this end, the government will always make assurance to investors and market agents that existing policies have strengthened economic foundations, so they will not be prone to internal and external disruptions, she explained.
"We maintain the momentum of our economic growth that is currently strengthening. We also maintain all policies to increase investment, exports, and the people's purchasing power," she stated.
Bank Indonesia Governor (BI) Agus Martowardojo opined that bomb attacks in several locations in East Java on Sunday and Monday had only slightly affected the exchange rate of the local rupiah against foreign currencies.
Martowardoyo remarked in Jakarta on Tuesday that in general, the bombing incidents had a slight impact on the economy when the security disturbance in Indonesia was being observed by the global community.
Nonetheless, as compared to the same incident in the past, the bomb attacks on Sunday only had a minor impact. "The bomb attack in Surabaya only had a small impact on the exchange rate of the rupiah," he noted.
Martowardojo pointed out that Indonesia's economic fundamentals were, so far, strong. He called on the people to not panic and remain calm in the face of the volatility in the exchange rate that occurred in recent days.
"BI will certainly always be in the market to maintain stability of the rupiah exchange rate, even if it has touched the exchange rate of Rp14 thousand per US dollar. The figure in terms of the percentage is small. Other countries are in a worse condition than our country," Martowardojo noted.
In the meantime, Deputy Director of BI Representative Office for North Sulawesi MHA Ridhwan said Indonesia's economic fundamental is strong enough to damp down the impact of the terror attacks on the country over the past week.
"We don't have to be worried as Indonesia's economic fundamental is relatively good and strong," Ridhwan said here on Tuesday.
He said the rupiah weakening is caused mainly by external pressures with the rising US dollar to follow the economic recovery of the world's largest economy.
The dollar appreciation had been at the expense of the national currencies of developing economies such as rupiah, Thai Bath, Turkish Lira, etc. He said rupiah still fares much better than the currencies of most developing economies, citing Rupiah which lost only 1.2 percent of its value as against Bath's loss of 1.76 percent and Turkish Lira's lost of 5.27 percent .
"Therefore, rupiah is not the only one losing against the US dollar and the terror attacks in Surabaya were not the causes," he said.
He said other countries including European countries are also facing problems over security and terrorism. "We are confident that the market sentiment in the stock market is temporary," he added.***3***(A014/B003)(T.A014/A/A. Abdussalam/Bustanuddin) 15-05-2018 20:44: |
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