Global Financial Crisis

Reading time: 3 – 5 minutes

I’ll depart to London in 2 days, to attend another Global Changemakers programme, which will be related to The G20 London Summit. The G-20 is a group of finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 economies: 19 of the world’s largest national economies, plus the European Union (EU). Indonesia is included! :)

I have a lot of “assignments” in going to this event. From making a YouTube video to be viewed by the media and G20 attendants, sharing resources on the net and currently the hardest one… making a presentation. I also need to present it in 2 schools, unfortunately I haven’t got the time yet and I dunno which school’s students who are going to be interested in such issue (raise your hand, please? :)). Let’s say in short, I need to know what young people think about the crisis, and what should the world leaders do? As a representative from this country, I need to bridge youth of Indonesia, the government of Indonesia and the other G20 leaders. So, if you want to talk anything about the crisis, this is the chance for you to speak!

At first, actually, I was never interested in economics. But well, as I was making the presentation, I figured out that economics are not that boring.

I hereby attached some things that are going to be in my presentation which is going to be seen by world leaders (hopefully! :p).

• We had a similar crisis.
  In 1997, we had a trade surplus of more than $900 million, forex reserves of more than $20 billion, 1 USD = Rp2380, and GNP = $250 billion.
  In 1998, we lost 13.5% of our 1997 GDP, 1 USD = Rp14150, GNP = $34 billion, GNP & exchange rate dropped by 83%, real GDP growth = 0.3%, inflation = 77%.
• We managed to get up.
  Jakarta Stock Exchange was the best performing market in Asia (2004), up by 42%.
  Economic growth reached 5% (2005) and continued to increase.
  Real per capita income has reached fiscal year 1996/1997 levels.
• Now?
  The decline in commodity prices pressed us to export which caused declining performance in exchange rate. There were also shock and fluctuation in money, forex and obligation market. On the other hand, inflation trends continue to decline (yay!). In 2008, economic condition was still positive (grew above 6%), balance sheet transaction still recorded a surplus.
• As a citizen of Indonesia, I fully support President SBY’s suggestions, including: act fast, focus on priorities, conduct short term, mid term and longer term actions simultaneously at the national, regional and global level.
• I recommend the government to continue and improve fiscal budget stimulus, strengthen the financial and banking system, and acquire additional fund resources.
• But, it’s not enough. This is a global crisis and we need a global act. World leaders should realize SBY’s suggestion last year, to make a “Global Expenditure Support Fund” which is going to support developing countries who are affected by the crisis; they should also stimulate economic growth and avoid protectionism.

Yeah, I know the vocabulary I used was too complicated. You don’t have to understand it. I only need suggestions from you. I need you to speak up about this issue so I can “transfer” them to the world leaders, like Barack Obama, Gordon Brown, or SBY for instance.

Thank you. :)

Tags: Global Changemakers, londonsummit2009, The G20 London Summit