Sri Mulyani Receives Best Minister Award During World Government Summit in Dubai

Jakarta Globe, February 11, 2018

(Reuters Photo/Christopher Pike)

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati received the Best Minister Award from Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Prime Minister and Vice-President of the United Arab Emirates, and ruler of Dubai, during the World Government Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Sunday (11/02). The award was given to recognize outstanding government ministers for their exceptional efforts in implementing successful reform. 

Sri Mulyani Named Finance Minister of the Year

Jakarta Globe, Tabita Diela, March 23, 2017

Finance Asia, a Hong Kong-based publication, on Wednesday (22/03) named Sri
Mulyani Indrawati the Finance Minister of the Year 2017. (Reuters Photo/Beawiharta)

  

Jakarta. Finance Asia, a Hong Kong-based publication, on Wednesday (22/03) named Sri Mulyani Indrawati the Finance Minister of the Year 2017.

Sri was followed by South Korea's Yoo Il-ho and Carlos "Sonny" Garcia Dominguez of the Philippines.

The publication lauded Sri's improvements in the country's tax collection system, saying the minister has a "stellar reputation" and an "indomitable work ethic."

Sri previously served as Indonesia's finance minister from 2005-2010 under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, before leaving government to take on a role as the managing director and chief operating officer of the World Bank.

In July last year, Sri accepted the position to head the Finance Ministry under President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, succeeding Bambang Brodjonegoro after he left to head the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas).

Bambang jump-started the national tax amnesty program, but Finance Asia said that Sri's "fearsome reputation" was "undoubtedly crucial" to its continued success. Indonesia's tax amnesty has been lauded as one of the most successful programs of its kind, with participants declaring Rp 4,590 trillion ($344 billion) worth of assets previously hidden from government oversight.

No Mercy for Shady Tax Consultants: Finance Minister

Jakarta Globe, December 29, 2016

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and the director general of taxation, Ken
 Dwijugiasteadi, in conversation during the minister's impromptu visit to the
tax office in Jakarta on Wednesday (28/12). (JG Photo/Tabita)

Jakarta. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said she will clamp down on tax consultants involved in tax evasion, as they are currently inundated by clients seeking their assistance to join the government's tax amnesty program.

"I've asked Mr. Ken [Dwijugiasteadi, the director general of taxes] to check out the tax identification numbers a many consultants," she told reporters on Wednesday (28/12).

"The consultants are cashing in big from the tax amnesty program. I've seen one who reported up to 30 asset declaration letters," she said.

Sri Mulyani made the comment during an impromptu visit to the headquarters of the Directorate General of Taxation in Jakarta, where she found employees from several tax consultancies submitting their clients' wealth reports.

"It's common practice in industrial countries; even individual taxpayers there use the services of tax consultants," she said. "But please don't try to lower [the value of taxpayers' assets] so they can receive the 0.5 percent tariff."

The government offers a 3 percent tariff for taxpayers who come clean on previously unreported assets abroad and agree to repatriate them. The government also offers a 0.5 percent tariff for small and medium enterprises with less that Rp 10 billion ($742,000) in total assets.

More than 170,000 taxpayers have joined the second part of the tax amnesty program and around 70 percent of them are small and medium enterprises, according to Hestu Yoga Saksama, director of counseling, service and public relations at the tax office.

The number of participants in the tax amnesty program, which started in July this year, has reached 563,000 by Thursday.

Tax director general Ken Dwijugiasteadi reported to the minister during her visit that the amnesty process is "under control" and that no emergency measures will be taken to address the lower-than-expected number of participants.

"Most of the high-wealth [individuals] have joined the first part of the tax amnesty, so the additional state revenue from the program will not be as high," Sri Mulyani said.

Despite the slower progress, the minister said she still "hopes for the best" and that each regional tax office has already prepared a plan to start the third part of the tax amnesty program in a bid to achieve a steady result.

So far, the government has collected Rp 106 trillion in total tax amnesty-related penalties – which include the 2 percent and 3 percent tariffs, payments of preliminary evidence from tax investigations and tax due payments – according to tax office data.

Taxpayers have also declared Rp 4,193.1 trillion in previously unreported assets and repatriated Rp 141.3 trillion so far.

The government has set a target of Rp 4,000 trillion in declared assets, Rp 1,000 trillion in repatriated assets and Rp 165 trillion in additional tax revenue.

"If the results at the end of the second part have not met our expectations, then I will step up the campaign in the last part," the minister said.

The tax office will not only focus on tax consultants in the last part of the tax amnesty program, which starts in January, Sri Mulyani said. Notaries, doctors, tax consultants, lawyers, architects, accountants, governors and executives of state-owned companies will be targeted next.

Google Understands Why Indonesia Wants Its Fair Share: Sri Mulyani

Jakarta Globe, Tabita Diela, October 27, 2016

Indonesia is bullish on reaching a settlement with technology giant Google,
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Thursday (27/10). (Reuters Photo/
Stephen Lam)

Jakarta. Indonesia is bullish on reaching a settlement with technology giant Google, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Thursday (27/10).

"We have already communicated with Google," Sri said during a meeting at the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club.

"I think there is at least an understanding about why Indonesia would like to have a fair share of the revenue and we do hope that we're going to reach an agreement," she said.

Senior Google Asia Pacific executives reportedly met Indonesian tax officials on Wednesday for negotiations on the company's tax bill.

"I will make sure that our team treats this issue professionally," Sri said.

The government earlier claimed that Google Indonesia, the company's local representative, paid an "unfairly small" amount in tax as it only allocated about 4 percent of its total revenue from advertisements to be subject to the 10 percent income tax.

Tax experts have urged the government to create a stronger regulation to tax over-the-top players.

Sri Mulyani Gets Straight to Work, Tips Spending Cuts for Ministries and Regions

Jakarta Globe, Tabita Diela, August 04, 2016

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati plans to cut ministries and regions
spending in 2016 state budget in a bid to regain credibility on government fiscal
policy after taxation revenue fall far short its target. (Photo courtesy of World Bank/
Deborah Campos)

Jakarta. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati plans to cut ministries and regional spending in the 2016 state budget in a bid to regain credibility on fiscal policy after taxation revenue fell far short of its target.

Sri Mulyani estimated taxation revenue will fall short of around Rp 219 trillion ($16.6 billion) from its Rp 1,539.2 trillion target in the 2016 revised state budget. That increases the risk of the government exceeding the legal deficit limit of 3 percent of gross domestic product.

"That's why ... we need to do some adjustment on the spending side so our deficit will be kept at a level that won't arouse a loss of trust in the state budget," she said on Wednesday (03/08).

The minister told President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and other ministers at a plenary session that she will cut Rp 65 trillion from the ministries' budget and Rp 68.8 trillion in regional transfer funds.

According to the 2016 revised state budget, the allocation for ministries and government’s agency is Rp 768 trillion, which is 6 percent higher than the Rp 724 trillion spent a year ago. Transfer funds to regions totaled Rp 729 trillion, 17 percent higher compared to Rp 623 trillion last year.

The plan has already received a blessing from Jokowi, according to a statement from the Cabinet Secretariat office.

"[The plan] is fully approved by the president and the vice president. The decision is binding to all ministries and other government agencies,"  Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said in a statement.

World Bank Urges Better Resource Management in Indonesia

Indonesia loses $4 billion from its rain forests to illegal logging.

Jakarta Globe, Vanesha Manuturi, Jun 10, 2015

Farming is seen in the protected areas of the Kerinci National Park (TNKS),
in Kerinci, Jambi, in May. (Antara Photo/Wahdi Septiawan)

Jakarta. The World Bank has pressed Indonesia to improve resource management and governance as the country works towards more sustainable and environmentally-friendly economic growth over the next five years.

“Indonesia has enjoyed tremendous growth … but not all are benefiting from these achievements and they come with a high price of environmental degradation,” said Sri Mulyani Indrawati, managing director and chief operating officer at the World Bank, on the first day of the Indonesia Green Infrastructure Summit 2015 in Jakarta on Tuesday.

She pointed to Indonesia’s forestry industry as an example of the country’s murky governance track record.

“Every year, Indonesia loses some $4 billion through illegal logging. Meanwhile, revenue from forestry licensing amounts to only $300 million per year,” she said. “This is a problem of governance, manifested in poor performance that impacts the implementation of existing regulations or design of better laws.”

Sri Mulyani — who was a former finance minister in the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s administration before resigning in 2010 — also noted “an information gap” among government agencies in Indonesia, which has led to a lack of transparency and efficiency in resource management.

“The energy sector, for example, needs more and better data on simple energy use and emissions,” she said.

Still, the World Bank managing director praised the government’s moratorium on new fishing permits for large operations as an “encouraging development.”

“A well-managed ‘blue’ economy can ensure food security, promote sustainable tourism and build resilience. But degradation through overfishing and dumped waste exacerbates poverty and undermines food security globally,” she said.

Improving governance of the fisheries sector coupled with large-scale investment in maritime transport and trade infrastructure could double fish production in the next five years, according to Sri.

During the same summit, Vice President Jusuf Kalla admitted the government’s stance to maintaining a sustainable economic growth has been lackluster.

“We’ve always thought about environmental issues after we’re faced with problems,” Kalla said.

“We’ve learnt and we are now learning with economic principles that are sustainable so that we can pass down this country for the next generation.”

Under President Joko Widodo, the government wants to boost growth to 7 percent over the next five years, bolstered by greater investment — both by the government and the private sector — in infrastructure development.

Joko’s infrastructure vision for the country includes the development of new power plants with a total capacity of 35,000 megawatts and nine million hectares of agriculture land across the country.

In a bid to encourage more environmentally-friendly investments, Indonesia currently offers tax allowances to nine business areas relating to environmental preservation, including geothermal power, refining and natural gas processing industry, organic basic chemical industry, and clean water reservoir and purification industry.

In April, Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya said that the ministry plans to offer more incentives — such as soft-loan facilities, business permit extensions and free import duties — to local and foreign investors with technology which reduces pollution and conserves energy.

GlobeAsia

Li Keqiang reaffirms AIIB cooperative stance

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-03-25

Li Keqiang, right, meets Takehiko Nakao in Beijing, March 23. (Photo/CNS)

The Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, on Monday reaffirmed cooperation between the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and existing financial institutions.

The AIIB will take an open and inclusive attitude and be complementary to existing development banks, said Li at a meeting with the president of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Takehiko Nakao .

The AIIB will strengthen the region's communication, social and economic development, Li said.

Nakao said the ADB was ready to cooperate with the AIIB.

Speaking of the support of the ADB for China's social and economic development, poverty reduction and regional economic cooperation, the premier pledged further partnership with ADB and called on it to play a bigger role in poverty reduction and development.

Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and Switzerland recently applied to join the AIIB as founding members, which already had 27 prospective founding members.

Nakao is in Beijing for the annual meeting of the China Development Forum, a platform for business and academic leaders to interact with China's top decision makers and economic planners.

This year's meeting has attracted more than a hundred CEOs from international corporations, experts and scholar, and leaders of international organizations.

Sri Mulyani Indrawati, managing director at the World Bank. 

(File photo/Xinhua)

Related Articles:

World Bank welcomes AIIB initiative: managing director

AIIB to have zero tolerance for corruption: official
China’s Influence Set to Climb as US Thwarted on New Bank

World Bank welcomes AIIB initiative: managing director

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-03-23

Sri Mulyani Indrawati, managing director at the World Bank. (File photo/Xinhua)

The World Bank welcomes the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and will closely cooperate with the China-proposed institution, the institution's managing director Sri Mulyani Indrawati said Sunday.

"Any new initiative that will mobilize funding in order to fill infrastructure gap is certainly welcome. World Bank really welcomes the AIIB initiative," Indrawati told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

She dismissed worries that the AIIB will compete against World Bank or existing regional development banks, saying that the global need of infrastructure is huge and the market is large enough. "What's important is whether you are going to be able to match the funding with the need of infrastructure," said Indrawati.

"We will definitely open for cooperation with AIIB. Even now, we are working very closely in the beginning and looking at the setting, principle and framework of this institution," she said.

Indrawati said the World Bank will work to support and make sure that AIIB can live up to the expectation of many countries in the world who really want to see infrastructure to develop in a better and sustainable way.

"By working with us, it's going to show and prove that they (AIIB) are adopting the same principle like other international institutions, for example, like the World Bank," said Indrawati.

The AIIB aims to become an international financial institution providing support to infrastructure projects in Asia, and is expected to be established by the end of this year.

The bank has had 27 prospective founding members. Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and Switzerland have applied to join the AIIB as a founding member.

Related Articles:

China’s Influence Set to Climb as US Thwarted on New Bank

Li Keqiang reaffirms AIIB cooperative stance

AIIB to have zero tolerance for corruption: official

SRI Now Waiting for Sri Mulyani to Come Aboard

Jakarta Globe, Arientha Primanita, November 30, 2012

Former Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati. (EPA Photo/Bagus Indahono)

Related articles

• Parties Linked to Sri Mulyani, Tommy Back in the Race
• Theater of The Absurd, Indonesian Politics Style
• Aburizal-Sri Mulyani Ticket in 2014 Makes for Intriguing, but Unlikely, Pair
• Golkar Party Considers Sri Mulyani for 2014 VP Ticket
• One Test Down, but Many More to Come

The fledgling political party with lofty ambitions to nominate former Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati for president in 2014 said on Thursday that it had everything in place to proceed.

Efika Rosemarie, a spokeswoman for the Independent People’s Union (SRI) Party, said the party was optimistic that Sri Mulyani would return to Indonesia once her term as a managing director of the World Bank finished at the end of 2013.

“We’ve already prepared her political vehicle, so when she comes back to Indonesia, she’ll be ready to roll,” Efika said.

“We want Sri Mulyani to run for president, not for vice president.”

Sri Mulayani, who is in no way affiliated with the party, has acknowledged SRI’s intention to nominate her but has not said whether she will run for president.

The party’s reaffirmation of its intent comes days after the body overseeing polling authorities ruled that SRI and 17 other parties that failed to pass the first part of the administrative verification process could still contest the 2014 elections.

Jimly Asshiddiqie, the chief of the Election Organizers Ethics Council (DKPP), announced on Tuesday that his organization had approved a request from the Elections Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) and election watchdog Sigma that the General Election Commission (KPU) allow previously rejected parties to run in the elections.

On Thursday, SRI chairman Damianus Taufan warned the House of Representatives not to question the DKPP’s decision, saying that such a move would be considered meddling in the democratic process.

“It’s possible that they could try to meddle with the KPU commissioners later. That could compromise the KPU’s independence in carrying out its responsibilities,” he said.

Indonesia’s Sri Mulyani on Forbes’ Most Powerful Women List for Fourth Time

The Jakarta Globe, August 24, 2012

World Bank managing director Sri Mulyani Indrawati. (EPA Photo/
Bagus Indahono)

    

Related articles

• Facebook Co-Founder Saverin Debuts on Singapore Rich List
• Sri Mulyani Lauds Contribution to IMF
• Sri Mulyani Says Developing Countries Can Lead
• Karim Raslan: Who's Not on the Ballot is Important Too
• House Demands Rapid Progress In Century Case

Forbes has once again included World Bank managing director Sri Mulyani Indrawati on its World’s Most Powerful Women list.

Released on Thursday, the magazine’s 2012 edition of the list placed the former finance minister of Indonesia at number 72, down from her 65th place ranking last year.

This is the fourth time Sri Mulyani has been present on the list. Forbes first included her on it in 2008, ranking her 23rd. She was mentioned again in 2009, although her ranking dropped considerably to 72nd.

Sri Mulyani, 49, served as the Indonesian finance minister from 2005 to 2010. She started serving as one of the three managing directors of the World Bank during May of 2010.

“The most senior woman” at the bank — as Forbes referred to her — oversees its operations  in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.

“Indrawati’s ongoing attention at the World Bank to middle-income countries such as Indonesia and the BRIC nations as a source of power and needed reform draws from her experiences as the Indonesian Minister of Finance from 2005 to 2010,” Forbes has commented.

The magazine also wrote that, “while minister, Indrawati cut Indonesia’s debt in half and helped the reserves reach an all time high of $50 billion."

Forbes’ 2012 list of the World’s Most Powerful Women once again placed German Canchellor Angela Merkel at the top for the second year in a row.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton placed second, followed by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, making the top three spots unchanged from last year.

The Top Ten list reads as follows:

.

1. Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany

2. Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State of the US

3. Dilma Roussef, President of Brazil

4. Melinda Gates, Co-chair of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

5. Jill Abramson, Executive Editor of New York Times Co.

6. Sonia Gandhi, President of Indian National Congress, India

7. Michelle Obama, First Lady of the US

8. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund

9. Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security of the US

10. Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook

Sri Mulyani Lauds Contribution to IMF

Jakarta Globe, Arientha Primanita &Markus Junianto Sihaloho,  July 14, 2012

World Bank executive director Sri Mulyani Indrawati greeted President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, her former boss, during their meeting at the
State Palace in Jakarta on Friday. (EPA Photo/Bagus Indahono)

Related articles

• Editorial: IMF Has Its Hand Out and Is Looking to Indonesia
• Indonesia's Pledge of $1 Billion to IMF Marks an Era Of Financial Independence: SBY
• Sri Mulyani Says Developing Countries Can Lead
• Indonesia Confirms $1 Billion Loan for IMF
• IMF's Lagarde Says Indonesia Needs Prudent Monetary Policy

Visiting World Bank executive director Sri Mulyani Indrawati on Friday backed Indonesia’s $1 billion financial contribution to the International Monetary Fund through the purchase of IMF bonds.

Sri Mulyani, the former Indonesian finance minister, said that as an international financial institution, the IMF’s job was to safeguard economies from crisis and help countries overcome financial difficulties.

“To be able to do this, the IMF needs funds,” she said in Jakarta. “Therefore, Indonesia, which is part of the global community, has shown a willingness to play a role not only by participating in policy but also by providing resources.”

Indonesia’s $1 billion bond purchase will help the IMF deal with countries suffering from economic crises.

Sri Mulyani said the move demonstrated solidarity with the global community and showed Indonesia’s commitment to the stability of the world economy.

“I think this is a form of responsibility that has also been showed by other countries, not only those within the G-20. They also contributed to help maintain and create an effective insurance scheme so that the crisis does not worsen,” she said.

Sri Mulyani also said Indonesia’s role on the world stage had changed in line with the shifting roles of developing countries in helping safeguard the stability of the global economy.

Although middle-income countries only account for 30 percent of the world’s GDP, their contribution to economic growth is more than 60 percent, showing how key a role they play in ensuring the health of the global economy.

“And because of this, the role of middle-income countries in solving global problems becomes very important,” Sri Mulyani said after meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the State Palace.

The World Bank, she said, sees Indonesia as a developing country with good economic growth and one that plays an important role in the region and the world. Indonesia, she added, could even become a model in development studies.

“When it comes to development, Indonesia is really rich in knowledge and experience. Whether something has been successful or not, it is always valuable to study,” she said.

Indonesia’s financial support to the IMF was criticized by scores of local politicians, who argued that the money should instead go toward alleviating domestic woes such as poverty and poor education.

Democratic Party lawmaker Achsanul Qosasih said on Friday that several members of the House of Representatives Commission XI, which oversees finance and banking, were seeking an explanation from Indonesian central bank executives.

“Bank Indonesia will be asked to provide an explanation to Commission XI because this is a strategic decision,” he said.

“The public needs to be enlightened as to what the benefits and advantages are, because Bank Indonesia is the one purchasing these bonds.”

Sri Mulyani said that the World Bank would continue to support Indonesia’s efforts to further develop its infrastructure, by providing monetary assistance and technical expertise.

“More important is to support the huge amount of funds needed to build good-quality infrastructure with good governance so they can last and become an investment that supports the equal distribution of development,” she said.

Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said the government could only come up with 30 percent of the funds needed under Indonesia’s Master Plan for Expansion and Acceleration of Economic Development (MP3EI), and had to rely on other sources for financing.

Related Articles:

Indonesia -- from borrower to lender - New

IMF Chief’s Visit Likely to Question Indonesia’s Pledged Loan: Minister

World Bank’s Sri Mulyani Says Asean Is Resilient To Europe Woes

Bloomberg, by Keiko Ujikane and Aika Nanao - May 25, 2012

World Bank Managing

 Director Sri Mulyani

Indrawati (Bloomberg)

Economies in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are “resilient” to Europe’s sovereign debt woes, with governments having room for monetary and fiscal policy changes, World Bank Managing Director Sri Mulyani Indrawati said.

“For countries, especially Asean countries who are very resilient to the crisis, they still have the ability to maneuver from their own policy space, whether this is on a fiscal side or a monetary side,” Sri Mulyani said in an interview in Tokyo yesterday. “That’s very important.”

 

Asian policy makers are under renewed pressure to support growth as the world grapples with the threat of a Greek exit from the euro. Greece’s political impasse has deepened the European crisis and sent Asian currencies and stockstumbling, adding to the uncertain outlook for exports and growth.

Sri Mulyani said developments in Europe will definitely affect Asia, especially East Asia, because of the region’s export-led growth model and deleveraging by European banks.

Growth in developing East Asia, which excludes Japan and India, will probably ease to 7.6 percent this year from 8.2 percent in 2011, according to a World Bank report released this week. The region’s economy will likely expand 8 percent in 2013, the report said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Keiko Ujikane in Tokyo at kujikane@bloomberg.net; Aika Nanao in Tokyo at ananao@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Panckhurst at ppanckhurst@bloomberg.net

Sri Mulyani Indrawati Interview: From political protest to top of the World Bank

Daily Mail, by ALEX BRUMMER, CITY EDITOR, 27th April 2011

When Sri Mulyani Indrawati was drafted into one of the top jobs at the World Bank in June 2010, she could never have guessed how useful her experience as a reformer in the post-Suharto era of klepto-capitalism in Indonesia would prove to be.

In her current job as the Washington based Bank’s managing director, she finds herself responsible – among other things – for the Middle East and North Africa region, which has seen unprecedented upheaval, violence and change since revolution erupted in Tunisia late last year.

Since then no less than 15 of the 17 countries across the region – many of them clients of the Bank – have been in turmoil. In two countries, Libya and Yemen, there is all out civil war.

Unlikely revolutionary: Mulyani's experience as a
reformer in Indonesia has proven invaluable

When the disturbances began, Mulyani, a native of the world’s fourth most populous nation, immediately identified them with events in her own country where the population rose up against the rule of President Suharto in 1998 in the wake of the devastating Asian financial crisis.

‘The changes have a similarity with Indonesia. You have an economy supported by a relatively crude economic performance, or in this case (the Middle East), the oil sector,’ Mulyani argues.

More...

• Stock market predictions: What next? {thisismoney.co.uk}
• We're NOT in recession but GDP is up by just 0.5% (and the construction industry is in tatters)

'People feel they are not participating in the decision-making process. Decisions are exclusive to those at the very top. You have grown up with crony capitalism and it creates ever more resentment.’

Our conversation takes place at the conference table in her office on the spacious president’s floor of the World Bank headquarters, just a short distance from the White House.

Mulyani, who is a near permanent presence on the Forbes list of the world’s most powerful women, speaks in fluent – but sometimes difficult to understand – English, and is accompanied by a coterie of advisers.

The World Bank managing director’s own experience in part resembles that of the well-educated revolutionaries in Egypt’s Tahrir Square and across the region. As the protests against the Suharto regime grew amid soaring inflation, which climbed to 80 per cent, and a collapsed economy, Mulyani, an academic at the University of Indonesia, found herself acting as ‘a resources person for the media’.

She became a big voice in the protest movement and as change came about was swept into government as an adviser sitting on the council of economic affairs. After a short sabbatical she was called back to power as finance minister.

The World Bank, with its 10,000 employees and thousands of consultants, looks a doddle in comparison. ‘At the Ministry of Finance we had 64,000 people,’ she recalls.

A slight woman, dressed demurely in a grey silk suit, Mulyani looks an unlikely revolutionary. She says that ‘toppling the small elites in charge and identifying the issues is much easier than correcting it’.

She adds: ‘You have to build new institutions that create an open, fair transparent institution and regulatory framework.

‘Indonesia’s response was dictated by the financial shock of crisis. So there was a phenomenal policy change required at the time.

‘We now have an anti-corruption law, we have a competition law and an anti-monopoly law and a bankruptcy law.

‘It took a year and a half from ending the president’s (Suharto) rule.’ In her view it was possible to speedily drive reform in Indonesia because it was ‘a collapsed economy’.

It may be harder in Tunisia, Egypt and across North Africa and the Middle East because the damage, so far, has not been so cataclysmic.

‘The momentum for change cannot be that radical in a way that it was in Indonesia. Tunisia and Egypt need to design the transition which strike the right balance between the continuity of economic growth and the need to protect poor people.’

As someone coming from the country with the world’s largest Muslim population, does Mulyani believe that Islamism and modern reformed economies are incompatible?

‘I don’t believe it has anything to do with religious belief,’ she snaps back. ‘People now, especially with the internet, are connected. They have an expectation of behaviour, of accountability, avoiding conflict and fair and just competition.

‘In Indonesia we don’t see this as against our values or religious beliefs. In fact I think Islam is actually seeking a just society in a way.’

Part of the clean-up process in Mulyani’s view is returning looted assets to the people through a ‘proper process’. But she warns it takes a long time and people ‘can be easily disappointed’.

Now that she is on the other side of the fence, Mulyani recognises that the World Bank and other development groups have much to learn from the way in which unscrupulous leaders loot the national wealth through crony capitalism and nepotism.

‘We are watching and learning from the experience. Corruption is really an enemy of the people, it is the enemy of the poor and that is why governance has become one of the Bank’s essential principles.

‘Engaging with a country that will not provide support for governance will definitely be a limitation on the Bank’s ability to operate there,’ she insists.

Mulyani is keen to bring a new dynamic to the Middle East economies which avoids a model of ‘high growth which fails to create jobs’. In her view it needs a blueprint that is inclusive and recognises the harm done by discrimination on ‘gender, on minority and location’.

She bemoans the fact that much of the education in nations like Tunisia ‘is not connecting with the jobs market’. Many of the manufacturing jobs are being replaced by automation so it is the services sector which will need to pick up the slack.

As for food prices, one of the other underlying causes of upheaval across the region, Mulyani thinks that governments need to be ‘aggressive in designing a social safety net’.

‘The problem of the food price is structural. The growth of demand cannot be checked in that it is coming from middle income countries demanding more quality and more quantity of food. High demand is here to stay,’ she says.

Mulyani has made an extraordinary journey from academia, to protest leader, to the highest level of government in one of the world’s most complicated countries, and now a portfolio at the World Bank which stretches from Latin America to East Asia and North Africa.

Mulyani says: ‘Many emerging countries are facing the same issue of overheating and inflation because they have been vigorously expanding fiscal and monetary policy to counter the 2008 shock.’

But she is hopeful that they have learned from the past and the economic framework is now much more sound.

Having risen to such dizzy heights does she have further ambition? Could she, for instance, be the first emerging market president of the World Bank.

Mulyani won’t be drawn. She simply notes that the ‘process has to be credible’ which means ‘open and not following any nationality’.

Despite the disadvantages of being a women from Asia – at an institution which since its foundation at Bretton Woods in 1944 has been headed by alpha male Americans – it would be hard to argue against her credentials.

World Bank, ADB Support Indonesia's Economic Corridor Scheme

Jakarta Globe, April 09, 2011

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and World Bank managing
director Sri Mulyani Indrawati, right, walking after having a meeting in Jimbaran,
Bali on Friday. This is the first time former Indonesian finance minister
Sri Mulyani Indrawati has met the Indonesian President as the managing
director of the World Bank. (JG Photo/J.P. Christo)

Related articles

• Asian Growth Strong Through 2012: ADB
• SBY Asks Businesses to Look Beyond Java in Growing Nation’s Economy
• ADB Extends $200 Million Two-Stage Loan to Indonesia
• Indonesian President Outlines 'Illnesses' Behind Development Program's Failure
• President Admits Development in Indonesia Has ‘Failed’

Jimbaran, Bali. The World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) have voiced support for Indonesia’s plans to accelerate economic expansion.

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Hatta Rajasa said on Saturday that ADB president Harihuko Kuroda and World Bank managing director Sri Mulyani — until last year Indonesia's top finance minister — had delivered their support at a meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

“They will support the master plan to speed up infrastructure development and connectivity as the main pillar in the economic acceleration and integration of regional sector in six corridors,” Hatta Rajasa said.

According to government plans, six regions will be designated as main economic corridors. Sumatra will be developed as an agricultural and national energy center, while Kalimantan will focus on mining and energy, Sulawesi-North Maluku on agriculture and fisheries, Bali-Nusa Tenggara on tourism and supporting national food self-sufficiency, Papua-Maluku on natural and human resources, and Java on industry and services.

Hatta on Saturday said that the ADB intended to give direct assistance to both state and private enterprises to develop added value for Indonesian economic acceleration and expansion.

“Thus connectivity, capacity building, and human resources are the three main pillars the Asian Development Bank is interested in,” Hatta said, adding that he had been asked by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to talk with the World Bank and ADB to follow up with the support.

The economic minister explained that based on ADB and World Bank evaluations, Indonesia’s economic situation at present was good, although it faces three problems — namely rising food price rises, oil prices and general inflation.

Antara, JG

Related Articles:

World Bank supports RI`s economic expansion master plan

Sri Mulyani Causes a Stir on Her Return

Sri Mulyani: RI should manage risks

Sri Mulyani greeted as celebrity at ASEAN meeting