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View all search resultsPurbaya calls out Citi economist over deficit projection
The finance minister stated that the 2025 deficit was deliberately pushed close to the 3 percent limit to ensure that the economic downturn did not spiral into a recession.
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Thumb up: Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa reacts to journalists after his first hearing on Sept. 11 with the House of Representatives’ finance commission in Jakarta. (Antara/Dhemas Reviyanto)
F
inance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has named and shamed a Citi economist who postulates that the fiscal deficit will swell beyond the legal limit this year, saying the economist lacks a PhD.
Speaking during a panel interview at the Indonesia Economic Summit in Jakarta on Tuesday, the minister said, without naming names, that “he’s not a real economist. He’s only a master’s [degree]. You should ask a PhD to answer the question,” pointing to himself and giggling while responding to a question about Citi’s projection of a ballooning fiscal deficit.
Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that the economist in question was Citi’s Helmi Arman, who penned a report in January that raised the budget deficit forecast to 3.5 percent of gross domestic product, exceeding the country’s legal cap of 3 percent.
The economist joined Citi in 2011 after stints at local lender PT Bank Danamon Indonesia, local brokerage PT Bahana Sekuritas and the ASEAN Secretariat.
He is in possession of two master’s degrees, one in international money and banking from the University of Birmingham and another in financial economics from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, according to Bloomberg.
The report projected a wider deficit on the basis that President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free nutritious meal program would run in full scale this year, at an estimated cost of around US$18 billion.
Moreover, extra spending is required to rebuild flood-hit provinces in Sumatra, which will cost the state coffer another $3.6 billion.
