Saturday October 17, 2009

Indonesia's fin min says will be in next cabinet

By Muklis Ali

BOGOR, Indonesia (Reuters) - Indonesia's Finance Minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, who is expected to keep her post in the next government, on Saturday said the president had asked her to be in his next cabinet, but declined to give details.

Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati speaks during an interview in Jakarta February 25, 2009. (REUTERS/Crack Palinggi/Files)

Indrawati, a respected technocrat and key reformer with an international profile, seems likely to be reappointed finance minister, which would be welcomed by many foreign investors.

"It's not a surprise, but it's reassuring for investors that sensible macroeconomic policies will continue," said James Bryson, whose firm HB Capital invests in Indonesian stocks.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a reformist ex-general who won a second, five-year term in presidential elections in July, is due to announce his cabinet following his inauguration on Oct. 20. Indrawati declined to give details of her appointment ahead of the formal announcement.

There has been intense speculation for weeks as to which ministers would keep their posts and whether Yudhoyono would pick more technocrats and professionals -- a crucial sign of his commitment to reform -- rather than career politicians.

More than a hundred journalists, including several television film crews, crowded outside Yudhoyono's home near Bogor, south of the capital Jakarta, to see who visited him as the President was due to interview cabinet candidates over the weekend.

INVESTOR INTEREST

Investor interest in Indonesia, Southeast Asia's biggest economy, has picked up sharply this year thanks to the combination of political and economic stability at a time when many of its export-dependent neighbours have been badly hit by the downturn in the global economy.

Yudhoyono's Democrat Party won a parliamentary election in April, paving the way for him to win a second, five-year term in the July presidential election with a strong mandate for reform.

Indonesian stocks have surged 85 percent this year, while the rupiah currency has risen 18 percent against the dollar, making it one of the best performing currencies in Asia.

When Indrawati emerged from her meeting with the president on Saturday, she told reporters that Yudhoyono has discussed the importance of boosting economic growth, which is set to reach 4-4.5 percent this year.

"The president asked me to participate in cabinet for 2009-2014," she said.

"Several important issues raised by the president included the need to increase economic performance and continue to promote economic activities for the welfare of the people. Also to open up job opportunities and to cut poverty and to boost economic growth."

She said Yudhoyono had also discussed ways to improve financing by the central and regional governments and the private sector, as well as the need to raise Indonesia's profile among the Group of 20, or G20, nations.

Indrawati currently holds both the finance ministry post and the economic co-ordinating post, but the latter may have been taken on by State Secretary Hatta Rajasa, who also met the president on Saturday and said he would have an economic post in the next cabinet.

Rajasa did not elaborate as to which economic post he would have, but in recent days there has been speculation he could be appointed co-ordinating minister for the economy.

Rajasa is a close ally of the president and was widely expected to get a cabinet post. As he emerged from his meeting he was asked by reporters what position he would have.

"It is very clearly in the economic sector," Rajasa said. "I have been interviewed by the president. The president talked about our economic sector, what we have to achieve, how we cut poverty."

(Writing by Sara Webb; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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