finance

Sri Mulyani Indrawati

Ref Batch
EX
Focus Area(s)
Ref Batch Number
1
Critical Tasks
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Jennifer Widner and Gabriel Kuris
Name
Sri Mulyani Indrawati
Interviewee's Position
Managing Director, World Bank
Language
English
Town/City
Washington, DC
Country
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract

As a follow up to her 2009 interview, Sri Mulyani Indrawati revisits her years as Indonesia’s minister of finance to discuss the challenges of building her economic reform team and institutionalizing performance management at the ministry.  She describes how she worked closely with key members of the KPK (Corruption Eradication Commission) to cultivate motivation and teamwork among government employees.  With the support of her reform team, she established institutional mechanisms to reduce corruption and raise the credibility of the government.  And although Indonesia’s bureaucracy proved to challenge the reform team at times, she explains how performance indicators and standard operating procedures were instrumental to identify and overcome weaknesses in the Ministry of Finance.  In conclusion, Sri Mulyani reflects on the more personal attributes required to move sustainable reform forward: a strong vision along with the trust and commitment of her fellow reformers.   She describes the practice of public asset disclosure as one of the most sustainable reforms her team implemented at the ministry. 

Profile

At the time of this interview, Sri Mulyani Indrawati was managing director at the World Bank.  She has extensive experience in financial reforms to reduce corruption and strengthen economic growth.