Speaking to newsmen here on Friday, he said, in normal circumstances, privatization was considered the key to success but during crises such as was now happening in the US and Europe, maintaining state-owned banks was the key to ensuring the continuity of economic activities.
"If we did not have our state-owned banks, the rupiah would be in a bad situation and not stable," he said.
Dahlan`s view accords with the policy adopted by some European leaders such as French President Nicholas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to support capital in the banking sector as an anticipatory measure in case several European countries are trapped in debts to force a default.
CIMG Niaga Bank chief economist Winang Budoyo meanwhile said the impact of the crisis in the US and Europe had now reached Southeast Asia as shown by declines in the exports of a number of countries in the region to the US.
"We hope these conditions will only be temporary. The effects of the crisis meanwhile have not yet touched Indonesia`s economic pillars," he said.
A study by Bank Indonesia had shown that the country`s banking industry is one of the sectors that are relatively strong enough to weather a crisis.
"This means banks can take advantage of these conditions to achieve their growth targets," he said.
Winang said Indonesia`s foreign exchange reserves until September 2011 were recorded at US$114.5 billion, down from US$125 billion in August.
(T.KR-IAZ/Uu.H-YH/HAJM/F001/S012)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
