Wednesday 14 February 2004   Indonesian Economy 2004 similar as last year   Jakarta, Kompas – Prospect of Indonesian economy this year predicted similar as last year. Stability on macro economy is good but real sector is the like previous year.   This is the result of Economic Seminar in Jakarta on January 13, 2004 with the speakers Chief Representative of World Bank in Indonesia, Andrew Steer, economist Faisal Basri and Lin Che Wei, also executive Anton J. Supit.   According to Steer, Indonesian economy is hindered by the bad investment climate and poor public services, therefore Indonesia should proceed more aggressive on structural reform and new regulation to attract more investor.   “New commitment to disburse loan is rising. Bur the reality is bellow 20%. Seems like some executives feel unsure to use the available credit loan,” said Steer.   Another serious problem on this year is unemployment . The level is increasing up to 40 million persons while on the informal sector decreasing to 31,7 millions on 1997 becomes 29,1 millions persons on 2002.   With the investment only 20% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), very difficult for Indonesia to reach the development of economy above 4,5% a year. With that figure, the unemployment will increase one millions persons a year, while nowadays the unemployment is already reached about 10 millions persons.   “Very important to make an attractive investment climate to open more available new job that still increasing high while the unemployment condition nowadays is getting worst,” said Steer again.   Anton Supit commented also that investment is the only way to create a new job opportunity. But investment will not proceed well if basic problem that hindered investment is still unsolved.   Law enforcement, employment rules, improvement on infrastructure and tax structural reform should be done first to attract more investment in Indonesia, Supit added.   (Translation by Richard Susilo)