Boediono - Indonesias Financial Rudder

When Dr. Boediono took over Indonesia’s Finance Ministry in August 2001, the country’s economy and financial system were still mired in the Asia crisis of 1997–98. He was about to single-handedly steer Indonesia onto a strong growth path.

Former college economics professor Boediono, who is on Wharton’s Executive Board for Asia, took control. Using the political skills gleaned in an earlier post as planning minister, he quickly secured a direct reporting line to President Megawati Sukarnoputri, then persuaded the International Monetary Fund to resume a debt program after a one-year hiatus.

“It was very clear that the first priority must be instilling some sense of normality for the macroeconomy before we could do anything,” he said in a 2003 BusinessWeek Online article.

Boediono remained in office until 2004, earning a “glowing international and domestic reputation” for his extreme fiscal prudence and technocratic finesse. He returned to government just one year later under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Today, Boediono is Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for the Economy and was recently described by The Jakarta Post as “one of Indonesia’s most highly respected economic policymakers,” adding “the return of Boediono’s steadying and unifying influence is something for which to be grateful.”

Now he is currently running for Vice President, together with Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Complete Career
Boediono was a Bank Indonesia deputy governor in charge of fiscal monetary policy from 1997 to 1998 and served as State Minister of National Planning and Development from 1998 to October 1999.
Following the removal of Abdurrahman Wahid from the presidency in 2001, President Megawati Sukarnoputri appointed Boediono as Minister of Finance in her new administration. Under his leadership, the economy grew by 4% in 2002.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono appointed Boediono as Coordinating Minister for the Economy during his first cabinet reshuffle in 2005, replacing tycoon Aburizal Bakrie. Bakrie had come under suspicion for having conflicts of interest. In 2008, a commission of the People's Representative Council elected him Governor of Bank Indonesia. After he was selected by Yudhoyono as a running mate in the 2009 presidential election, Boediono submitted his resignation from the central bank post.
Boediono is also a lecturer in economics at Gadjah Mada University.

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