BI: European crisis affects economic growth in Asia

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Bank Indonesia (BI) is fully aware of global economic downturn which causes the export slowdown amid the increasing import due to high domestic demand. The Governor of BI, Darmin Nasution, said it needed a long time to tackle European crisis despite several progress in European Union meeting. 

European economy will face recession this year along with the continuing negative perception in global financial market. "Meanwhile, US economy is still susceptible," he said.

Global economic downturn, he said, affected the growth in Asian countries, like China and India. They are the main partner of Indonesian trade. While the price of global commodities including oil keep declining following the decreasing demand.

Such situation could affect Indonesian economic growth, he said. With the declining of export, Indonesian economic growth in the third quarter of 2012 is assessed on 6.3 percent. By the end of the year, the economy grows in around 6.1-6.5 percent and 6.3-6.7 percent in 2013, while BI targets the economic growth on 6.3-6.7 percent.

The World Bank's Country Director for Indonesia, Stefan Koerberle, said the threat of global financial crisis was big enough. The fluctuation of investment portfolio and stock market shows Indonesian economy does not immune to the crisis. The Managing Director of World Bank, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, reminds the government to take careful steps towards global financial crisis by protecting the poor and creating job opportunity.