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inance Minister Agus Martowardojo has assigned his newly appointed deputy Mahendra Siregar to oversee fiscal policy, the stock market and state assets, while budgetary issues would remain under the direction of deputy finance minister Anny Ratnawati.

“The work of the Finance Minister will be more focused because in the absence of the minister, the first and second deputies could take over,” Agus told reporters at his office in Jakarta on Friday, referring to Anny as the first deputy and Mahendra the second.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono installed Mahendra on Wednesday as part of a highly publicized and widely criticized Cabinet makeover that reshuffled and added new ministers, 13 new deputy ministers and restructured two ministries.

The National Education Ministry has become the Education and Culture Ministry, while the Culture and Tourism Ministry is now the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry.

Former deputy trade minister Mahendra will be responsible for supervising the fiscal policy office (BKF), Capital Market and Financial Institution Supervisory Agency (Bapepam-LK), directorate general of state assets (DJKN) and the Financial Education and Training Agency (BPPK).

Anny will oversee four other Echelon I posts, namely the directorate generals of budget, treasury, fiscal balance and debt management.

“These are all in the field of budgetary discipline, so, planning, disbursement and accountability for the budget are in the hands of the first deputy finance minister,” Agus said.

The directorate generals of taxation and customs and excise as well as the ministry’s secretariat general and inspectorate general would be supervised directly by Finance Minister Agus, he added.

“We are hoping for acceleration [after Mahendra’s appointment] so that state assets and budget management could be more focused because the coverage area of the Finance Ministry is very wide,”
Agus said.

According to a bio made available by the Trade Ministry, Mahendra, aged 49, graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Indonesia and received a Master’s degree in Economics from Monash University.

He began his career as a civil servant at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in 1986. Former coordinating minister for the economy Aburizal Bakrie appointed him deputy in charge of international economic and financial relations in 2005. He maintained the post under former coordinating minister for the economy and present Vice President Boediono until 2009.

Former BKF acting chief Anggito Abimanyu, who came close to becoming a deputy finance minister early last year, said Mahendra could play an important role that had been missing within the ministry’s international division, especially in times of crisis.

“No one is fulfilling the role of negotiations, so there is insufficient dialog and networking,” Anggito said.

“I have known Pak Mahendra long enough to know his negotiation skills through G20 [events].”

Mahendra has been Yudhoyono’s closest aids at G20 meetings, assisting in presentation and dialogue preparations.