Darmin said if the Fed finally decides to hike its rate, it does not mean that the national economy would immediately stabilize again, and the situation would be more under control and more easily anticipated.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia has expressed hope that the Fed would immediately arrive at a decision regarding its interest rate to lend certainty to the global economy, which is currently suffering a slowdown.

"Please, if change (on the rate) is to be made, do it now. The sooner the decision is made, the better and clearer it will be. It is not only for Indonesia but also for the world," Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution noted here on Wednesday.

He pointed that undoubtedly, market players have already chalked out anticipatory measures with regard to the Feds plan. Moreover, the idea has been circulating for almost a year now.

"It has been ongoing, or in financial terms, it has already been factored in by the market players," he affirmed.

Darmin said if the Fed finally decides to hike its rate, it does not mean that the national economy would immediately stabilize again, and the situation would be more under control and more easily anticipated.

"We did not say it would be immediately better, but for the world, the longer it is delayed, the longer the volatility will last. It is just that simple since the longer it takes, the cost for managing the uncertainty will be higher," he pointed out.

Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro remarked that uncertainty is one of the risks to be faced by the country until the end of 2015 due to the Fed interest issue that has so far led to depreciation and capital outflows.

He, however, noted that hopes were still high that the global economy would improve in 2016 as long as uncertainty regarding the Fed rate and the Chinese devaluation issue was over.

"High hopes are pinned for the year 2016 when there will be certainty over the Fed rate and China not devaluing its currency on a larger scale again," he pointed out.

On Thursday, the Fed is scheduled to decide a rate policy that has long been awaited by global financial market players.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2015