JAKARTA, 30 July 2006 - Vice President Jusuf Kalla has said here on Sunday that Indonesia is no longer hit by economic crisis because per capita income has reached US$1,500. "The economic crisis has actually ended," Kalla said to respond a speech deliverd by chairman of the Nation Awakening Party (PKB) Muhaimin Iskandar in the party`s national meeting.

The vice president further said Indonesia`s per capita income had reached US$1,000 before the crisis hit the country in 1998 and dropped drastically to US$700 during the crisis. "The country`s per capita income has reached 1,525 dollar. If its per capita income still stands at 700 dollar, it`s correct the crisis still exists but in fact it is not," he said.

After President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono took office on October 20, 2004, he moved quickly to implement a "pro-growth, pro-poor, pro-employment" economic program. He also announced an ambitious anti-corruption plan December 2004. The State Ministry of National Development Planning (BAPPENAS) released in early 2005 a Medium Term Plan focusing on four broad objectives: creating a safe and peaceful Indonesia, creating a just and democratic Indonesia, creating a prosperous Indonesia, and establishing a stable macroeconomic framework for development.

President Yudhoyono and his team have targeted average growth of 6.6% from 2004-2009 to reduce unemployment and poverty significantly. Indonesia`s overall macroeconomic picture is stable and improving, although GDP growth rates have not yet returned to pre-crisis levels. Indonesia?s 4th quarter 2004 GDP growth was 6.1%, its highest level since the 1997-98 financial crisis, and full year growth in 2004 was 5.1%.

Kalla, however, admitted that there are some problems facing Indonesian people. According to him, the previous governments had also problems related to human actions like communal conflicts in Poso and Ambon and now the government had problems related with natural disasters. He said the government tried hard to lessen impacts and victims of the calamities. One of the government`s efforts is to install early warning systems.

"The government will install sirens in coastal areas across the country prone to earthquake and tsunami," he said.

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