Will discuss economy comprehensively: BI

JAKARTA. Bank Indonesia (BI) said the central bank’s board of governors meeting (RDG), which is scheduled to be held on Thursday, would be aimed at comprehensively reviewing the global and national economy.

“At BI, we hold the RDG meeting every week and every month. In the monthly meeting, all aspects of national and global economy are reviewed comprehensively. In the weekly meeting, there is a similar review but not as deep as the one in the monthly meeting,” said BI Governor Agus Martowardojo after a meeting with the Budget Committee at the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Wednesday.

But to review the latest economic condition, he said, BI could not wait until the monthly meeting took place on Sept 12.

“The global condition is moving rapidly,” said Agus.

He further said that BI had warmly welcomed the government’s decision to issue four big policies to tackle the current account deficit and to contain inflation as well as to promote better economic growth and investment flowing sustainably.

The governor said that current economic conditions did not mean that Indonesia was at a bad place or even more, affected by crisis.

He asserted that BI had continued to safeguard the stability of the rupiah exchange rate to stay at a level that reflected strong economic fundamentals.

“If the rupiah weakens, this is because the US dollar is strengthening. Many countries are in worse conditions,” said Agus.