First term as finance minister (2005) Sri Mulyani was first appointed
Minister of Finance in 2005 by President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. One of her first acts was to fire 150 corrupt tax and customs officers in the finance department and penalize another 2,000 officers. She successfully reduced
political corruption and initiated reforms in Indonesia's tax and customs office. She also revised incentive structures for civil servants in her ministry and began paying higher salaries to tax officials deemed to be "clean" so they would have less temptation to accept bribes. In 2006, she was named
Euromoney Finance Minister of the Year by
Euromoney magazine. In September 2006,
Emerging Markets selected Sri Mulyani as the
Asia Finance Minister of The Year. Growth in 2008 was 6% despite the
Great Recession. Critics of the bailout claimed it was done without legal authority and without proving that a capital injection was needed to prevent a run on other banks. The bailout cost the state close to 6.7 trillion rupiah ($710 million). Sri Mulyani defended the bailout as necessary and denied any wrongdoing. Criticism on Sri Mulyani's policy also came from then-
Vice President of Indonesia Jusuf Kalla. He denied claims by former Bank Indonesia officials that if the lender had been allowed to fail, there would have been a systemic impact on the country's banking system and economy. All nine factions in the House of Representatives special committee agreed that there were suspicious and possibly fraudulent transactions and evidence of
money laundering as a result of the bailout, alleging that preventing such fraud was the responsibility of the
Indonesian National Police and
Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). After Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was re-elected in the
2009 Indonesian presidential election in July 2009, Sri Mulyani was re-appointed in her post of Finance Minister. In 2009, the Indonesian economy grew by 4.5% despite the
Great Recession affecting most of the world economies. Along with India and China, Indonesia was one of just three major emerging economies to grow faster than 4% in 2009. In May 2014, Sri Mulyani testified at a trial related to the Century Bank bailout, where she reiterated that she believed that the bailout was a good decision.
Resignation and move to the World Bank (2010) On 5 May 2010, Sri Mulyani was appointed one of three managing directors of the
World Bank, replacing
Juan Jose Daboub who had stepped down after 4 years of his term on 30 June, responsible to work in 74 countries in
South America,
Caribbean, Eastern
Asia–Pacific,
Middle East, and
North Africa. Her resignation was viewed negatively; the
Indonesia Stock Exchange closed down 3.8% after the news, amid a broad selloff in Asia, while the
Indonesian rupiah fell nearly 1% against the dollar. There was widespread speculation that her resignation was due to political pressure, especially from
Aburizal Bakrie, a powerful tycoon and leader of
Golkar. Bakrie had enmity toward Sri Mulyani due to her investigation into
tax fraud by the Bakrie Group, her refusal to prop up Bakrie's coal interests using government funds, and her refusal to declare the
Sidoarjo mud flow, which was caused by drilling by Bakrie's company, as a "natural disaster". On 20 May 2010, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono named
Agus Martowardojo, CEO of
Bank Mandiri, the largest bank in Indonesia, as her replacement.
Alleged hacking by Australian intelligence (2013) In November 2013,
The Guardian published articles based on leaks by
Edward Snowden that showed the
Australian Intelligence Community had hacked into the mobile phones of top Indonesian leaders in 2009. This included Sri Mulyani, who at that time was the minister of finance.
Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbott defended the actions, saying that the activities were not so much "spying" as "research" and that its intention would always be to use any information "for good".
Reappointment as finance minister (2016–2025) In 2016, Sri Mulyani was reappointed finance minister. From 2017 to 2019, Sri Mulyani was named the best finance minister in the Asia-Pacific region three years in a row by
FinanceAsia. In 2018, Indonesia recorded its smallest
budget deficit since 2012. In February 2020, Sri Mulyani announced a 10.3 trillion rupiah
economic stimulus package to mitigate the effects of the
COVID-19 recession. In April 2020, during the
COVID-19 pandemic, Sri Mulyani released a global bond series with a 50-year maturity, the longest loan offered in Indonesian history. In 2021, after the enactment of Presidential Decree No. 78/2021, she became one of the Vice Heads of
the National Research and Innovation Agency Steering Committee, together with
Suharso Monoarfa. On 20 October 2024, Sri Mulyani was reappointed Minister of Finance by President
Prabowo Subianto for 3rd consecutive term, ending in 2029, making her the first person to hold the position under three presidential administrations. Following the
August 2025 Indonesian protests, she was dismissed as finance minister by Prabowo on 8 September. ==Personal life==