JAKARTA (Bloomberg): President Joko Widodo is backing a push to expand Bank Indonesia’s mandate to include bolstering the economy, throwing his public support behind a legislative move that some analysts see as risking the central bank’s independence.
Bank Indonesia shouldn’t just manage the currency, but also should support sustainable economic growth and job creation, Jokowi, as the president is known, said Wednesday (April 7) in an interview in Jakarta. After a year when Indonesia struggled with its first recession in two decades, the economy is set to grow as much as 7% in the second quarter compared to a year earlier, he added.