Prabowo inherits country striving to level up

Big burden: Prabowo greets supporters in Jakarta. The presidential frontrunner has pledged social assistance programmes totalling 460 trillion rupiah. — AP

Jakarta: Set to be Indonesia’s next leader, Prabowo Subianto will soon inherit his predecessor’s mission to break the trillion-dollar economy out of the middle-income trap.

President Joko Widodo came to power back in 2014 pledging to boost growth to 7%, the pace he believes is needed to turn the nation of nearly 280 million people rich by 2045 – a century after its independence and while it can still leverage its large youth population.