JAKARTA, July 7 (Xinhua)-- A senior Indonesian official said Monday the government subsidies to the energy sector may increase to 38 billion U.S. dollars next year if global oil prices reach to 140 U.S. dollars a barrel.

    Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani told a hearing with lawmakers on Monday that the oil sector may need subsidies of over 250 trillion rupiah (some 27 billion U.S. dollars) next year and the rest of 100 trillion rupiah (about 11 billion U.S. dollars) could go to the electricity sector.

    The assumption of oil price on the state budget was 120 U.S. a barrel and it seemed to be revised up to 140 U.S. dollars a barrel for 2009, she said.

    The global oil price has risen twice in the last seven month, which makes it difficult for the government to determine the assumption of the oil price, said Mulyani.

    The soaring oil prices have had a negative impact on the economies of many countries, particularly developing countries, and Indonesia is one of them. Most Asian countries have raised oil prices recently due to rising global oil prices.

    Indonesia has raised oil prices on average of 27.8 percent recently to secure the state budget.