Indonesia's new finance minister tasked with 6% growth and tighter deficit

Suahasil Nazara took over the finance ministry amid a critical budget drafting period, with President Prabowo Subianto demanding both stronger growth and fiscal prudence. The 2027 state budget aims for a 6% expansion of the economy and a deficit narrowed to 2.40% of GDP, down from the previous year. Nazara, a career civil servant with academic credentials from the University of Indonesia, Cornell, and the University of Illinois, has previously led the Fiscal Policy Agency and served as deputy finance minister under two administrations.

His experience includes managing the budget during the COVID-19 pandemic when the deficit temporarily rose to 6.1% of GDP. He emphasizes that budget efficiency means maximizing public benefit from each rupiah spent, not merely cutting expenditures. The challenge now is to align spending with growth targets while generating sufficient revenue to sustain the lower deficit.