Indonesia's Prabowo may offer Sri Mulyani a cabinet post, sources say

By Stefanno Sulaiman

JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesia's Prabowo Subianto is considering offering current finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati a cabinet minister post in his administration, three sources told Reuters, as the president-elect finalises his ministerial picks.

Sri Mulyani arrived Monday night at Prabowo's private residence in South Jakarta. The incoming president has been holding meetings with dozens of people, mostly politicians in his broad coalition, who said they had been asked to serve as ministers ahead of Prabowo's Sunday inauguration.

Speculation has been rife about who will be Prabowo's finance minister after the president-elect's comments earlier this year on plans to take on more debt set local bond and currency markets on edge.

Prabowo could ask Sri Mulyani, a former World Bank managing director, to stay on as finance minister, or become coordinating minister of economic affairs, two sources told Reuters, while a third source said Sri Mulyani was among a few candidates considered as finance chief.

They declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the information.

"There must be a name that has international reputation in (Prabowo's) cabinet," one of the sources said.

Representatives for Sri Mulyani and Prabowo did not respond to a request for comment. The finance ministry declined to comment.

Sri Mulyani, one of Indonesia's longest-serving finance ministers who has worked under two presidents, has won plaudits for reforming the taxation system and for her role in steering Southeast Asia's largest economy through several crises, including the pandemic.

Several ministers from the administration of outgoing President Joko Widodo, including interior minister Tito Karnavian, trade minister Zulkifli Hasan and energy minister Bahlil Lahadalia, met with Prabowo earlier on Monday and said they had been asked to join the next government, but did not elaborate on their positions.

Airlangga Hartarto, Widodo's chief economic minister, was also called to Prabowo's residence late on Monday.

(Reporting by Stefanno Sulaiman and Ananda Teresia; Writing by Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by John Mair and Bernadette Baum)