Monday, 20 May 2013 13:15
Posted by Parvez Jabri
JAKARTA: Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Monday named the country's investment chief as the new finance minister, putting him in charge of Southeast Asia's top economy at a time of major challenges.Chatib Basri, who is taking on the role ahead of elections in 2014, replaces Hatta Rajasa, who was stand-in finance minister for a few weeks after the previous incumbent left amid growing complaints about his reformist agenda.The 47-year-old takes up the job as economic growth slows, the rupiah remains weak, the current account deficit widens, and the government is poised to take the politically sensitive step of hiking fuel prices.Announcing Basri's appointment, Yudhoyono praised him as a "distinguished economist" whose time at the helm of the country's investment board coincided with a surge of foreign money into Indonesia."Investment was the main support for the economy and remained relatively high as the world stayed in recession," he said.Foreign companies have ...
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JAKARTA: Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Monday named the country's investment chief as the new finance minister, putting him in charge of Southeast Asia's top economy at a time of major challenges.Chatib Basri, who is taking on the role ahead of elections in 2014, replaces Hatta Rajasa, who was stand-in finance minister for a few weeks after the previous incumbent left amid growing complaints about his reformist agenda.The 47-year-old takes up the job as economic growth slows, the rupiah remains weak, the current account deficit widens, and the government is poised to take the politically sensitive step of hiking fuel prices.Announcing Basri's appointment, Yudhoyono praised him as a "distinguished economist" whose time at the helm of the country's investment board coincided with a surge of foreign money into Indonesia."Investment was the main support for the economy and remained relatively high as the world stayed in recession," he said.Foreign companies have ...
TAIPEI: A Taiwanese fighter jet ploughed into the sea off the island's north coast on Monday, the air force's second crash in less than a week, military officials said.The crash happened when the French-made Mirage 2000-5 fighter was conducting a regular training mission, the air force said, adding that both crew managed to parachute to safety.The cause of the incident was under investigation, it said.A single-seater F-16 went down off central Taiwan on Wednesday last ...
SUVA: Fiji's military ruler said on Sunday he would meet Beijing's leaders in China this month, a week after unveiling an official trip to Russia, as he looks beyond strained regional ties in the South Pacific.Voreqe Bainimarama has been banned from Australia and New Zealand since seizing control in a 2006 coup.His announcement that he would hold talks with Premier Li Keqiang and President Xi Jinping came a week after he said he would meet ...
TOKYO: A Japanese minister on Sunday defended a surprise visit to North Korea by one of the prime minister's aides which Washington and Seoul said could not help efforts to forge a united front against Pyongyang.Akira Amari, state minister of economic revitalisation, said the four-day trip by Isao Iijima reflected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's resolve to have North Korea come clean on its kidnapping of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s."Japan has an extremely ...
SEOUL: South Korea on Sunday condemned North Korea's latest short-range missile launches as "provocative" and again urged it to hold talks about a suspended jointly-run industrial park. The North Saturday launched three short-range guided missiles off its east coast, apparently as part of a military drill, at a time when cross-border relations remain icy after months of simmering tension. The South and US forces had earlier been on heightened alert for any test of medium-range ...
MANILA: The Philippines is waiting for tempers in Taiwan to cool before settling the dispute over a shot Taiwanese fisherman, the head of an office in charge of relations said Sunday.Issues like Manila's "one-China" policy and comments by Taiwanese investigators branding the incident as murder have complicated the situation, said Amadeo Perez, chairman of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office."We are waiting for the right time because I was told by the secretary-general for Asian ...
BEIJING: Chinese authorities were on Sunday investigating claims that unidentified North Koreans hijacked a Chinese fishing boat, kidnapping 16 sailors and demanding a ransom, local media and an official said.Armed North Koreans on May 6 hijacked the boat and escorted it towards North Korea while it was sailing in waters around 70 kilometres (40 miles) from North Korea's western coast, reports and the boat's owner Yu Xuejun said."The crew were taken away by a North ...
