Sole Bank Indonesia (BI) governor candidate Perry Warjiyo looks set to assume the top position at the central bank after passing a screening at the House of Representatives with flying colors.

Members from all 10 factions of House Commission XI, which oversees financial affairs, agreed unanimously on Wednesday to endorse Perry, who was nominated by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to replace current BI Governor Agus Martowardojo.

The decision came in parallel with the unanimous decision to endorse Dody Budi Waluyo, BI’s monetary and economic policy executive director as deputy governor, taking the spot Perry had left.

Dody, who was also endorsed by Jokowi, beat two other candidates, namely Doddy Zulverdi and Wiwiek Sisto Hidayat, who are respectively BI’s monetary policy director and BI’s West Java representative office head.

Both Perry and Dody were considered as having a “highly-respected track record” and experienced in monetary affairs, said Commission XI chairman Melchias Markus Mekeng after the House meeting.

“We hope [that Perry and Dody] deliver an innovative breakthrough to maintain the rupiah’s [stability], given that whenever external pressures increase, the rupiah depreciates,” he said, hinting at the lingering vulnerabilities in the country’s economic stability. “This contradicts the government’s argument that our economy is healthy.”

Mekeng said the decision would be read in the House plenary session scheduled on April 3, which will be the final step for the candidates to be approved by lawmakers.

During his presentation before Commission XI members on Wednesday, Perry acknowledged the need for BI to be “pro-growth”, aside from maintaining the stability of the rupiah and inflation, which are the central bank’s responsibility as mandated by the 1999 Central Bank Law.

In an effort to realize his mission to revitalize BI’s core mandate, Perry said he had prepared a draft revision to the Central Bank Law, saying he is “ready to discuss it [with lawmakers] in the future.”

In the draft revision, Perry said BI would have a mission to not only manage the rupiah and financial stability in supporting the national economy, but also consider ideas in which financial instruments could increasingly vary to deepen the financial market.

By introducing more instruments, the domestic financial market would be less vulnerable to external shocks, which could trigger capital outflows and damage the economy, he said.

“[There are more] instruments other than the existing ones. There will be macroprudential [measures], among other things. Of course we are open to discuss this matter when the time comes,” Perry said.

Perry said his mission to venture beyond BI’s mandate as outlined in the 1999 law was motivated by his experience as an executive director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) between 2007 and 2009, during which he experienced the 2008 global financial crisis that left a sizable impact on developing countries.

“Regulators’ policies are essential to create or correct market mechanisms when they fail. It [his experience at the IMF] prompted me to create a policy mix in which monetary policy remains a core pillar, but macroprudential policies, financial market deepening, among others, were also part of it,” he said.

Prior to his appointment as BI’s deputy governor in 2013, Perry, who is 59, served as an assistant for the central bank’s governor for the formulation of monetary, macroprudential and international policy, spending almost all of his career as a central banker.

Welcoming Commission XI’s decision, Bank Central Asia chief economist David Sumual expected that BI would strengthen its coordination with the government and other stakeholders as oftentimes challenges emerged from fiscal considerations, aside from monetary ones.

“BI needs to communicate with the government and other stakeholders to avoid any misunderstandings,” he said.

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