She agreed to stay under Jokowi's successor, Prabowo, a headstrong former army commander. Indrawati lent him stature. As a candidate, he professed skepticism for deficit rules, and he insisted on targeting a pace of economic growth that was faster than many other economies. Her presence during the transition was encouraging. She was there to convince investors that Prabowo’s populism wouldn’t derail the country. That challenge will now belong to Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, who has served as chairman of the Deposit Insurance Corporation since 2020.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, eager to put recent nationwide protests behind him, has fired his respected finance minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati. Her sky-high stock had become diminished. It’s a risky step, but not so dangerous as it might have been had Prabowo pushed her out in the last year.
Indrawati was a reassuring figure for investors over more than a decade. A former top World Bank executive, she put a reputable face on the policies of a country with great potential but that often struggles to get out of its own way. She lent credibility to former president Joko Widodo, who wisely gave her a free hand over the budget and currency policy. Whenever something looked like it might go awry, the almost universal cry in trading rooms was: “Thank goodness Sri Mulyani is still there.”
