Agus Martowardojo

Agus Dermawan Wintarto Martowardojo is the current Governor of Bank Indonesia since May 23, 2013. Previously, he was Finance Minister of Indonesia, since 2010 until 2013 when succeeded former minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, who resigned from the office and taking position as Managing Director of the World Bank Group.

Agus was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on January 24, 1956. After graduating from University of Indonesia's School of Economics, Jakarta, in 1984, he became an international loan officer at the Indonesian branch of Bank of America. Agus has a long career as one of top bankers in Indonesia. Previously he was Chief Executive Officer of Bank Mandiri, the largest bank in Indonesia, in 2005-2010. He was also former President Director of Bank Bumiputera in 1995-1998 and President Director of Bank Ekspor Impor Indonesia in 1998-1999.

His performance as head of Bank Mandiri was considered successful, as he slashed non-performing loans and raised the bank's profile among international investors. He also increased profits in the banks. In 2008 for example, the bank paid $418m in dividends to the stockholders. He was also instrumental in helping the Finance Ministry in recovering Rp 1.23 trillion (US$133.15 million) of state money from Tommy Soeharto, son of late former president Soeharto.

Following the resignation of Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Agus was appointed as Finance Minister in the Second United Indonesia Cabinet. His selection was greeted positively by analysts as he was considered to have the managerial skills to be finance minister. He also has wide international experience and has represented Indonesia in G20 forums.

In March 2011 he announced his first fiscal policies as Finance Minister with a focus on promoting real sector growth and investment intended to spur Indonesia’s economic growth. Highlights of the new regulations included removing the value added tax (VAT) for the sale of houses worth less than Rp 70 million (US$7,910) compared with the previous Rp 55 million; eliminating taxes on the sales of cooking oil and bulk cooking oil for the poor; and providing in advance 50 percent of the funds needed by the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) for the rice for the poor program.

In 2008, following resignation of Boediono as Governor of Bank Indonesia to run as Vice President of Indonesia as the running mate of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Agus was nominated as one of candidates for Governor. However his nomination was rejected by the national Legislature, apparently for political reasons.

On 22 February 2013, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono surprisingly named Agus as his only candidate for Governor of Bank Indonesia to replace Darmin Nasution. On 27 March 2013, House of Representatives' (DPR) Finance Committee finally elected Agus as governor of Bank Indonesia for the period of 2013-2018 by voting. Agus won 46 votes of support and seven votes against. One member abstained from the vote.