No Plan So Far to Raise Subsidized Fuel Prices

Bottles of gasoline are displayed on a street to sell to motorists in Indonesias South Sulawesi province February 22, 2011. A litre of gasoline sold on the street costs more than at a fuel station, a vendor said. High oil prices pose a danger for global economic growth and industrialised countries stand ready to release oil from stockpiles to meet any Middle East supply disruptions, chief economist of International Energy Agency Fatih Birol told reporters on the sidelines of an energy conference in Indonesia on Tuesday.

Indonesia's government currently has no plan to raise prices of subsidized fuel, as appreciation in the rupiah is helping shield the state budget from the impact of rising global oil prices, the economics minister said Tuesday.
“It is the government's intention to continue to provide subsidies until they are no longer needed,“ Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Radjasa told reporters.
Raising fuel prices is a politically sensitive issue in Indonesia and price increases have led to social unrest in the past. The government earlier this year shelved a plan to ban private cars in the Greater Jakarta area from consuming subsidized fuels, due to concerns it would stoke inflationary pressures.