Indonesia needs to raise fuel prices before March

JAKARTA: Indonesia's government needs to raise fuel prices before March and preferably in the fourth quarter of this year, deputy central bank governor Mirza Adityaswara said on Friday.

President-elect Joko Widodo, who takes office on Oct. 20, is expected to raise domestic fuel prices to cut subsidies and make budget funds available for economic and social development.

Raising fuel prices would cut a huge oil import bill and help to reduce the country's trade deficit. But cutting subsidies is politically tricky and in the past, higher domestic fuel prices sometimes have triggered an inflationary spike which the central bank would need to battle.