JAKARTA. The head of the Financial Services Authority's (OJK) board of commissioners, Muliaman Hadad, said he was optimistic that conditions in the financial sector, which were currently fluctuating due to the weakening of the rupiah and sharp declines on the stock market, would improve.

“I am still optimistic because I believe the performance of the financial industry can improve, as predicted by indicators that forecast possible improvement in the third and fourth quarters,” Muliaman said on Wednesday evening following a meeting with Finance Minister Chatib Basri and Bank Indonesia Governor Agus Martowardojo.

He added that the performance of listed companies during the first half of 2013 had been good compared to the performance on stock markets in the Philippines, Thailand and other developing countries.

“We have underlying assets of better quality and definitely, for us, this can become a basic foundation. However, we don’t want to see some people taking advantage of the current situation,” he said.

He ensured that the OJK would increase its monitoring, including carrying out relaxations and preparing new policies, to mitigate any potential crisis and to ensure the situation did not worsen.

“I can see that the direction of the stock index today [Wednesday] has reversed, but we don’t yet know what will happen tomorrow or the day after,” he said.

“But, in principle, we have prepared policies that will allow the situation to recover,” he concluded.

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