Indonesia and the Washington consensus

• Main Author: Premjith Sadasivan
• Other Authors: S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
• Format: Working Paper
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Military and naval science::Strategy::Asia
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/90636; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/4438
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This paper seeks to assess Indonesia's economic record before and after the 1997 East Asian financial crisis in light of the 'Washington Consensus' prescriptions. Before the crisis, Indonesia was held up as a "poster boy" by international financial institutions. Yet, when the crisis struck, Indonesia was the worst affected in Asia despite its sound macroeconomic fundamentals. What happened? Our analysis will be confined to Indonesia's industrial policy and its experience with capital account liberalisation. We also review the IMF's programme for Indonesia, assess its management of the crisis and examine the implications and policy options for Indonesia in the post-1997 East Asian crisis.