Indonesia’s Finance Minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati has been named Finance Asia’s Asia-Pacific Best Finance Minister of 2019 for the third consecutive year.
According to FinanceAsia, the former Managing Director of the World Bank has succeeded in leading Indonesia’s economy towards a more positive path, with the lowest budget deficit in the last six years. In 2018, the country’s budget deficit was at 1.76 per cent per Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Through her program, the Tax Amnesty, which was established from 2016 to 2017, Sri Mulyani has successfully increased the tax compliance rate while simultaneously increasing tax revenues. The finance minister also encouraged Indonesia to be the first Asian country to issue green bonds, a bond specifically earmarked for projects related to climate and environment, amounting to over USD1.25 billion.
Despite the declining exchange rate, due to the trade war between the United States and China, Sri Mulyani was also able to maintain the stability of the rupiah exchange rate. The second place was awarded to the Philippines Finance Minister, Carlos Dominguez, followed by Singapore’s Heng Swee Keat, Australia’s Josh Frydenberg, and Hong Kong’s Paul Chan.
Earlier in 2019, Sri Mulyani was also named as Finance Minister of the year 2019 Global and the Asia Pacific by The Banker, a magazine affiliated with the Financial Times.
Source: Kompas
Image: ANU