Trade and Investment Bulletin Volume VI, May 2017 | Page 2

Sri Mulyani: Asia’s Best Finance
Minister
Photo: Retno Marsudi, Indonesia Foreign Minister
meets with US Vice President, Mike Pence in
Washington, D.C. (www.kemlu.go.id)
Photo: Sri Mulyani, Indonesia Finance Minister (http://thejak.co)
According to Finance Asia’s, Sri Mulyani
Indrawati is a worthy winner of 2017
Finance Asia’s Finance Minister of the
Year award. Sri Mulyani Indrawati was
appointed as Indonesia’s Finance Minister
last July, returning to a job she held
between 2005 and 2010.
Sri Mulyani emphasized improving the
efficiency of tax collection, a crucial step
for Indonesian Government in order to
get its wealthiest citizens to declare their
assets.
The Hong Kong-based financial journal, in
its article explained why Sri Mulyani was
their top pick. They have noted that she
has been particularly successful in
improving the Indonesian government’s
revenue streams, which had failed to hit
the mark for the last seven years.
This success also came along with the
implementation of tax amnesty program
that had been launched before Minister
Indrawati started the job where in July
last year, Sri Mulyani accepted the
position to head the Finance Ministry
under President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo,
succeeding Bambang Brodjonegoro after
2
Indonesia Foreign
Minister Visits the
United States to
Strengthen
Strategic
Partnership
he left to head the National Development
Planning Agency (Bappenas).
Bambang jump-started the national tax
amnesty program, but Finance Asia said
that Sri's "fearsome reputation" was
"undoubtedly crucial" to its continued
success. Indonesia's tax amnesty has
been lauded as one of the most
successful programs of its kind, with
participants declaring Rp 4,590 trillion
($344 billion) worth of assets previously
hidden from government oversight.
The early take-up of the tax amnesty was
far lower than the administration had
sought after.
Minister Indrawati has also pushed for
cuts in spending, slashing government
expenditure by 3% last year. This two-
pronged approach is economics 101 in
balancing the budget. However, it is a
rarity in a region where tax collection
often disappoints, and governments
often overspend.
(continue page 3)
Trade & Investment Bulletin| Number VI / May 2017
The Indonesia Foreign Minister visited
Washington, D.C. on 4-5 May 2017. The
purpose of her visit is to follow up on US
Vice President Visit to Jakarta last month
as well as to strengthen Indonesia – US
Strategic Partnership through mutually
beneficial cooperation for the people of
both countries.
The Minister visits consist of meetings
with Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson,
Speaker of the House, Paul R