Inflation in Indonesia set to soar
Updated
Economists say inflation in Indonesia will soar once the government goes ahead with plans to put up the price of subsidised fuel.
On Monday Jakarta said rising global oil costs were forcing it to put up fuel prices, and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says the hike could be as high as 30 percent.
Indonesians are already battling higher global food prices, which have nearly doubled the cost of cooking oil since last year.
Budget committee chairman Haris Azhar Azis says higher fuel prices could push inflation from the current target of 6.5 percent to over 11-percent.
But he says while it will damage economic growth, leaving fuel prices as they are would ultimately drive inflation even higher.
