From Breakingviews - Indonesia’s Jokowi can make a final term count, says ClaraMarquesRTR:
SINGAPORE - Joko Widodo can make a final term count. The Indonesian president, known as Jokowi, is on track to win re-election. His first five years had notable successes, including in infrastructure. With a stronger hand this time round, he can tackle pricklier issues that will charge a sluggish economy, and his legacy.
A small-town mayor from central Java, Widodo had a meteoric rise in a country led for decades by a tight military and political elite. He turned up in thronging Jakarta with a clean, can-do image, ready to tackle everything from ever-present traffic jams, costing the capital $5 billion in economic losses annually, to corruption. His soft-spoken style contrasted with established rivals, and he vowed the country was open for business.
Plenty has been left unfinished, though. The $1 trillion economy is growing at just over 5 percent, far too slow for this young country of 260 million, and not even close to Widodo’s original 7 percent target. Like previous governments, his is also prone to populist episodes that continue to shock foreign investors: U.S.
He can also raise government revenue to boost spending by closing fiscal loopholes, and do more to follow up a 2016 tax amnesty that turned up assets worth some $370 billion. Tighter income and corporate tax has irked businessmen, but Indonesia’s revenue pool from such levies is still only around 11 percent of GDP, below even peers like the Philippines, which has been funding its own infrastructure push.
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