Indonesia cuts fuel subsidy :: Bloomberg

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Indonesia will almost triple kerosene prices from today to cap energy subsidies that have eroded confidence in the country's finances and caused the currency to plunge. Diesel price will more then double, while gasoline prices will rise by 87.5 percent, Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro told reporters in Jakarta. The nation's parliament on Sept. 27 endorsed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's government's plan to raise fuel prices and cap subsidies this year at 89.2 trillion rupiah ($8.7 billion). Yudhoyono raised the price of fuel, which is being sold at less than half of the cost of imports, to reassure investors who last month sold the nation's currency and stocks as the subsidy bill surged. He faces opposition from consumers in the world's fourth-most populous nation after promising that a 29 percent price increase in March would be the last this year.