Peter Alford, Jakarta – Indonesia's government is planning to cope with severe financial and economic shocks in coming months, including food shortages, Vice-President Boediono said yesterday.

Dr Boediono's description of preparations for a global recession coming out of Europe and the US contrasted grimly with the general view that Indonesia should sail through relatively unscathed.

The Asian Development Bank in its 2012 forecasts envisaged Indonesia, the largest Southeast Asian economy, maintaining its 6.5 per cent growth rate.

However Dr Boediono, one his country's foremost economists, said the unsuccessful attempts in Washington and the EU to resolve their crises left Asia with economic and financial disruptions "similar to those in 2007-08, if not worse".

"Currently (Indonesia's) fundamentals are good but we are fully aware that if the global situation continues to worsen, our room of manoeuvre may quickly disappear," he said.

Preparations were under way to meet a possible global liquidity crisis similar to the final months of 2008, including using foreign exchange reserves as a fiscal buffer, protecting local banks' credit access and devising rapidly-deployable government stimulus.

The lesson of Indonesia's 2008 experience was the need to protect the poor and the newly unemployed, Dr Boediono said.

"Underpinning all our social protection programs is our commitment to ensure the stability and availability of foodstuffs, especially rice, for all the population all the time." All the country's main food-producing regions were being prepared to ensure the main harvests in the new year were optimal.

Dr Boediono said Indonesia maintained its commitment to open international trade, although The Jakarta Post reported yesterday the new Trade Minister, Gita Wirjawan, was preparing to implement a swathe of non-tariff barriers across the economy.