Hatta Woried Over Possible Impact of Egypt's Upheavals

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Chief economic minister Hatta Rajasa expressed worries here on Thursday over possible impact of political upheavals in Egypt on regional security stability and the world's oil price.

"This could create market conditions which we may say unstable and trigger oil price hike," he said. 

        A price hike resulting from the crisis in Egypt could disrupt national fiscal resilience and affect badly on the country's economic growth in the long-term.

"I hope no speculation would happen causing the crude price to soar. If that happens it would hurt us, increase our imports and drain our foreign exchange reserves," he said.

In view of that he expressed hope that situation in Egypt could be restored soon and the political crisis could be overcome so that stability would occur in the Northern African and Middle Eastern regions.

"We hope situation in Egypt could be restored immediately and internal political tension there could be reduced to give a positive economic impact on the region," he said. (*/M038)