APEC Delegates Focus on Social Effect of Asian Crisis

Efforts to resolve Asia’s financial crisis must emphasize easing hardships for ordinary people, Asia-Pacific finance ministers said Sunday at the close of talks overshadowed by the turmoil in Indonesia.

The ministers welcomed new Indonesian President B.J. Habibie’s commitment to pursue reforms but expressed deep concern about the overall situation in the country.

During the three-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, officials from APEC’s 18 members repeatedly stressed that the social effect of the financial crisis deserved greater attention, both in Indonesia and elsewhere in the region.

The ministers urged the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and Asian Development Bank “to look for innovative ways of offering support for those hardest hit by instability.”

U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin said measures to help disadvantaged people in the crisis-hit countries were crucial to the success of sometimes-painful economic reforms such as reducing food and fuel subsidies.

The finance ministers said the IMF should continue to focus on purely economic issues, while the World Bank and Asian Development Bank should expand their efforts to address social issues in affected countries.

Distracted by the upheaval at home, Indonesia sent only a low-level delegation to the meeting.

Habibie has pledged to abide by conditions of the IMF’s $43-billion bailout program, although Malaysia’s finance minister, Anwar Ibrahim, suggested at the meeting that some aspects of the deal might be renegotiated to reduce the social effect.