The Indonesian government will wait until at least after October to raise fuel prices, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Wednesday, despite a prolonged fall in the rupiah due to soaring world oil prices.

The country's currency was spiraling down due to the increasing global oil prices, that have reached over 70 US dollars per barrel. The global price rise has prompted the Indonesian government to snap up dollars to pay for oil imports and put pressure on the budget due to expensive fuel subsidies.

"If everything goes smoothly, after October we can implement the rise in fuel prices," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said in a lengthy address to the nation broadcast on television.

"We finally decided, that no matter how, the price of fuel should be raised ... linked with a reduction of subsidies, not an elimination of the subsidies," he said.

"We will decide and implement the fuel price increase when we are convinced that the deficit reduction is logical, not threatening fiscal (stability) and the budget, and when we have made sure that aid and compensation for the poor" has been planned.

The subsidies could "threaten our fiscal sustainability and the macro-economic stability which we have worked hard to maintain so far," he warned.

Source: Xinhua