JAKARTA - COMPANIES in Indonesia will have shed 40,000 jobs by the end of 2008 as a result of the global financial crisis, a government minister said on Tuesday.

Employment Minister Erman Suparno projected that 23,000 workers will be let go in December, while 17,000 jobs were cut in previous months.

The jobs are in the electronics and manufacturing sectors, but he did not specify at which companies.

The worsening economic climate will result in more losses in 2009, he said without providing details. Hundreds of thousands of Indonesian workers abroad also face possible redundancy, he said.

As many as 150,000 people could lose their jobs in the first half of 2009, the head of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mohamad Suleman Hidayat, warned on Tuesday, calling for the swift implementation of an economic stimulus package.

The official unemployment rate is around 10 per cent.

The Indonesian government lowered economic growth forecasts to between 5 and 5.5 per cent in 2009, down from an earlier projection of 6.5 per cent. The World Bank expects a sharper contraction. -- AP