I found a Reuters article on AOL this morning, and don't know where on the net to link to the entire article, so I'll just give an excerpt:
"Suharto moved to remove a major grouse of the country's 200 million people -- he ordered fuel price cuts.
Huge price rises on May 4, mandated by conditions for a $40 billion IMF-arranged package to help Indonesia out of its worst economic crisis in decades, were a major factor in popular anger which erupted in riots....
Analysts, however, said the International Monetary Fund agreement now seemed to be all but dead and Indonesia's problems were now social and political."
So according to the second paragraph, it's the IMF's fault that hundreds are dead. That seems to overlook the fact that the problem was caused by billions (trillions?) in bad loans caused by stupidity, greed, and bribery.
And what does the last paragraph mean? How much has the IMF given them, and how much more had they promised? Is the IMF still going to find a way to bail out the international lenders hurt by events in Indonesia? Does Indonesia not still have financial problems, or is the point that if one's country is about to become the next Beirut or Somalia, money loses some importance? |
