Indonesia likely to cut 40,000 jobs by year-end

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

JAKARTA, Dec. 23 (Chinese media) -- Companies in Indonesia are likely to cut 40,000 jobs by the end of 2008 due to the impact of the global financial crisis, an official said on Tuesday.

It is predicted that 23,000 workers in the country's electronics and manufacturing sectors will lose their jobs in December, comparing with 17,000 in November, said Erman Suparno, Indonesian Employment Minister, quoted by the Jakarta Post.

He said that the worsening economic climate will result in more job losses in 2009, and hundreds of thousands of Indonesian workers abroad also face possible redundancy.

On the other hand, Mohamad Suleman Hidayat, head of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that as many as 150,000 people could lose their jobs in the first half of 2009, adding that the government should implement an emergency economic stimulus package.

Before that, the Indonesian government lowered economic growth forecasts to 5-5.5 percent in 2009, as against 6.5 percent as former predicted.