New governor proposed for Bank Indonesia

President Wahid of Indonesia has proposed the acting governor of the troubled central bank, Bank Indonesia, Anwar Nasution, to take the job on a permanent basis.

A final decision is to be taken by parliament, probably on Monday.

The president also proposed two bank officials to be deputy governors Siti Fajriah and Hartadi.

The proposals follow the resignation on Friday of Mr Nasution and a number of deputy governors, complaining that they did not have the support of the government, parliament and the public.

The bank is struggling to cope with bad loans worth billions of dollars trillions of rupiah made to Indonesian banks at the height of the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

After their resignations, the government said the bank would only have to bear two-point-six billion dollars 24 trillion rupiah -- about a sixth of the total.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service