Yet most analysts of the Indonesian economy agree that a consumption rally alone can't sustain recovery.

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The rupiah's exchange rate is also important to the health of the Indonesian economy.

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But the business empire has tentacles reaching into every corner of the Indonesian economy.

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While the Indonesian economy was growing fast, it was possible to make light of the Suhartos' rent-seeking ways.

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That is a change that helps boost the Indonesian economy, and, as decades of history have shown, the single most important factor in an improved environment is a robust economy.

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So if the currently rude health of the Indonesian economy were to deteriorate because of policy mistakes or an external shock, the response might be more, not less, liberalisation a swifter dismantling of monopolies, privatisation of the still bloated state sector, and a freer trade regime.

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The Indonesian government expects the economy to grow by up to 6.8% this year after expanding an estimated 6.3% last year.

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Her impact, at AID and the Ford Foundation and with departments of the Indonesian government, grew out of her deep understanding of village peasant economics, the importance of women in the rural economy, and her love of the people she met in her work.

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