The Indonesian election

Getting ready for one of the biggest elections (literally) this year.

Source: The Economist

The state of play in Indonesia

On February 14th, Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy with an electorate of over 200mn, will vote for a new president.

The current president is Joko Widodo (colloquially known as Jokowi). In office since 2014, Jokowi is term-limited, but he is leaving office with the incredibly high approval rating of 80%.¹

Jokowi’s popularity can partly be attributed to having presided over a relatively strong Indonesian economy. Since Jokowi entered office in October 2014, the Indonesian economy has averaged around 5% annual growth.

Source: St. Louis Fed

However, this belies the fact that Indonesia’s annual economic growth has been pretty consistent since the Asian Financial Crisis of the late 90s (sans pandemic).

Source: The Economist

And unlike its neighbors, Indonesia exports essentially nothing of substantial economic value.