Jakarta – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said he will run for a second term in next year's election, with Vice President Jusuf Kalla his probable running mate.

"God willing I will run again for president in 2009," he told reporters late Sunday during a meeting at the state palace, confirming his widely expected bid for a second five-year term.

"It's too premature to announce it, but it is very likely I will run with Jusuf Kalla," he said after inviting Kalla to the palace to break the daily Ramadan fast.

Indonesia's first democratically elected president is considered the favourite to win the polls but he is facing a resurgent threat from former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, who was trounced by Yudhoyono in 2004.

He said he wanted to continue with political and economic reforms he initiated in his first term, but gave no specifics. "I'll be grateful if I have another chance to continue to fix and finish (his government's programmes) for better development," he said.

Anger over a government decision to hike fuel prices by about 30 percent in May to offset the ballooning cost of multi-billion-dollar subsidies has hit the liberal ex-general's popularity ratings.

The move was met by street protests but it was applauded by economists as a sign of fiscal maturity as the budget creaked under the strain of soaring global crude prices.

The president campaigned in 2004 on a promise to stamp out endemic corruption in the world's most populous Muslim state.

After a slow start his anti-corruption watchdog has made some progress this year, with several arrests of high-profile officials and raids of core institutions such as the attorney general's office and the supreme court.

Yudhoyono's small Democratic Party is in coalition with Indonesia's largest party Golkar, headed by Kalla. The presidential polls are expected to be held in June or July after parliamentary elections on April 9 next year.