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Indonesia highlights its structural reforms to S&P
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S&P director of sovereign and international public finance Kyran Curry (first left) listens to Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama during his visit to the Jakarta administration office on May 9. (thejakartapost.com/Anton Hermansyah)
I
ndonesia has presented the progress of structural reforms to the global ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P), highlighting the country's efforts to boost balanced and sustainable economic growth.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo held a meeting with the ratings agency at the State Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday. He was accompanied by Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor Agus Martowardojo, Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro, Trade Minister Thomas Lembong, Investment Coordination Board (BKPM) head Franky Sibarani and State Secretary Pratikno.
The ratings agency is currently carrying out its annual assessment of Indonesia's sovereign rating. During the assessment, the S&P team will visit non-governmental figures as well as infrastructure projects, starting with the Jakarta administration on Monday.
The assessment team is led by S&P director of sovereign and international public finance Kyran Curry.
According to Agus, the President explained how Indonesia would pursue balanced and sustainable economic growth, and the attempts that have been made to create better coordination between the central and local governments.
"The President also explained how the reform was carried out, with fiscal improvements in infrastructure and human capital," Agus said.
Earlier, President Jokowi pushed his Cabinet to strengthen the economy in a bid to improve the ease of doing business and to win an investment grade rating from S&P. A better investment grade would improve investor perceptions and lure more capital and investment inflows.
S&P is the only global rating agency that has yet to release an update on Indonesia’s sovereign rating, after giving a BB+ rating for Indonesia, slightly below investment grade rating of BBB, with a positive outlook.
Meanwhile, Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Rating has given Indonesia an investment grade rating. Moody's maintained the credit rating of Indonesia at Baa3 with a stable outlook in January.
At the beginning of January 2012, Fitch gave Indonesia a BBB- rating with a stable outlook. It was the first investment grade rating given by Fitch after 14 years. (ags)
