Indonesia has removed Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati from her post, a move that may plunge President Prabowo Subianto’s administration further into turmoil just days after violent demonstrations rocked the nation. Stocks and rupiah forwards erased earlier gains.
Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, who has served as chairman of the Deposit Insurance Corporation, would be the new finance minister, Prabowo said in a briefing on Monday. Before that, he served as a deputy at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment.
Indonesia’s benchmark stock index fell 0.9 per cent. The rupiah one-month non-deliverable forward slipped 0.2 per cent against the US dollar to 16,436 per dollar, erasing an earlier gain of as much as 0.6 per cent.
Sri Mulyani has led Indonesia’s finance ministry for nearly 14 of the last 20 years, a symbol of fiscal credibility for three presidents and widely credited with helping the nation secure investment-grade credit ratings.
The former World Bank executive was first appointed by former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2005, and then by president Joko Widodo in 2016. Last October, Prabowo retained her in the post.
The move caps days of speculation in financial markets, after Sri Mulyani’s home was among those looted by a mob at the height of protests in late August. Hundreds of demonstrations have taken place across 35 provinces, leaving at least 10 dead and several government buildings and public facilities burned.