Kalla Against Government's Buyback Plan
9 September 2015 21:32 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Vice President Jusuf "JK" Kalla said that the government should not carry out its stock buyback plan in a bid to stabilize the country's economy since the crises could not be addressed merely by monetary policies.
JK added that the move was not appropriate because it would only benefit foreign investors.
"The majority of the stock market is owned by foreign investors," JK said in the University of Indonesia, Jakarta, on Wednesday, September 9, 2015.
The condition, JK added, was different from that in China's stock market, in which the majority investors were locals. JK said that Indonesia should learn from the financial crisis.
According to JK, the country's economy will be threatened by monopoly practices if the government focuses on monetary policies. Meanwhile, JK added, the economy would be more transparent if the country adopted an open democracy. JK viewed that boosting productivity in real sector would help to ease the crisis.
"To prevent [the financial crisis in] 1998 and 2008 from recurring, domestic products must be improved," JK said.
State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno earlier said that the government would repurchase shares of 13 SOEs which were depreciated due to economic slowdown. The government had prepared Rp 10 trillion (US$714.3 million) taken from pension funds, insurances, and SEOs internal cash.
FAIZ NASHRILLAH
