Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo has been nominated for another five-year term in a move that should solidify monetary policy continuity in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
(Bloomberg) — Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo has been nominated for another five-year term in a move that should solidify monetary policy continuity in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
President Joko Widodo has sent Warjiyo’s name to parliament as his sole candidate for the post, according to Said Abdullah, who heads the budget committee in parliament. Lawmakers will deliberate on the appointment when they return from recess on March 13.
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The move all but guarantees that Warjiyo, 63, will helm Bank Indonesia until 2028. He took on his first five-year term in May 2018 after decades of climbing up the central bank’s ranks. He can serve a second five-year term under the law.
The rupiah pared its losses to 0.1% following the announcement, after falling as much as 0.3% earlier on Wednesday.
His reappointment is rare in Bank Indonesia’s history as most governors serve only a single term. It’s also testament to Warjiyo’s credentials as a central banker, having steered the economy through financial crises and the tumultuous pandemic years with a focus on “preemptive and forward-looking” policy.
Indonesia’s central bank is among the first in the region to be able to pause its tightening cycle as inflation eases. Monetary authorities in places like Australia, India and the Philippines are still grappling with persistent price pressures, forcing them to double down on a more hawkish stance.
Warjiyo has also been using tools other than interest rates to avoid excessive tightening that could stunt growth. Most recently, the bank has been luring home exporters’ dollar earnings and pushing up short-term bond yields to attract inflows.
The central bank governor should ensure foreign-exchange flows have a broad impact on the economy and improve investor confidence in the country, lawmaker Abdullah said in a statement. He also signaled that lawmakers will weigh Warjiyo’s ability to coordinate with parliament and other policymakers like Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.
(An earlier version corrected Warjiyo’s age in third paragraph.)
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