Yudhoyono Picks Nasution as Bank Indonesia Governor

Jakarta Globe, June 02, 2010, Aloysius Unditu & Novrida Manurung

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has nominated Bank Indonesia Acting Governor Darmin Nasution (pictured) to take the job permanently. (Bloomberg Photo)

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono nominated Bank Indonesia Acting Governor Darmin Nasution to take the job permanently, a lawmaker said, possibly ending a one-year impasse over the central bank’s leadership.

Achsanul Qosasi, vice chairman of the House of Representative’s budget affairs committee and a member of Yudhoyono’s Democrat party, confirmed by telephone today that Nasution is the candidate.

Yudhoyono signed the nomination letter and it has been sent to the parliament, Julian Pasha, a presidential spokesman, said by phone, declining to name the nominee.

The central bank governor post has been vacant since Vice President Boediono resigned in May 2009 to become Yudhoyono’s running mate in last year’s presidential election. The appointment, which requires parliamentary approval, will plug a vital gap in the country’s top economic leadership, after Yudhoyono named Agus Martowardojo as Indonesia’s finance minister May 19.

“The new governor will be tasked with improving communication between fiscal policy makers and monetary policy makers, and designing measures to protect the $514 billion economy from the impact of the European debt crisis,” said Juniman, chief economist at PT Bank Internasional Indonesia.

Indonesia’s central bank has left its benchmark interest rate at a record low of 6.5 percent since August 2009, even as regional neighbors from India to China have raised borrowing costs this year to avert asset bubbles and contain inflation.

Bank Indonesia will probably keep its benchmark rate unchanged at 6.5 percent on Thursday, according to all 24 economists in Bloomberg News survey. The measure is at the lowest level since it was introduced in July 2005. The central bank targets inflation, which accelerated to 4.16 percent in May, at 4 percent to 6 percent this year.

Standard and Poor’s raised Indonesia’s sovereign credit rating to a 12-year high of BB from BB- on March 12, with a positive outlook. SandP and Moody’s Investors Service both rank Indonesia two levels below investment grade, while Fitch Ratings on Jan. 25 raised it to one step below investment.

Nasution, 61, received his doctorate in economics from University of Paris, Sorbonne, France in 1986, according to the Bank Indonesia Web site. He was chairman of Indonesia’s Capital Market and Financial Institution Supervisory Agency (Bapepam) in 2006. He was director general of taxation at the Ministry of Finance before moving to the central bank.

Bank Indonesia is led by a board of governors consisting of one governor, one senior deputy governor and six deputy governors.

Bloomberg