Indonesia President Prabowo Subianto on Monday canned the, per Reuters, “well-regarded” longtime Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati – who served from 2005 to 2010 and then again since 2016 – with Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, an economist who promises 8 percent growth and no new taxes for a vast nation plagued by recent unrest over the cost of living and inequality.
“I will create economic growth of 6 percent to 7 percent – that will make protesters disappear automatically. They will be busy looking for work and eating well, rather than protesting,” said Purbaya after he was sworn into the post. Lol. Fadhil Hasan of the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance in Jakarta said Purbaya is a good enough economist but doesn’t have the chops to directly manage fiscal policy and the economy at large, making him “not the best choice.”