July 9 (Bloomberg) -- President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono swept toward a second five-year term, receiving a strong mandate from Indonesia’s 176 million voters to take the country’s economy to new heights of growth.
Yudhoyono won 61 percent of votes in yesterday’s election, according to a sampling of nationwide ballots by the Indonesian Survey Institute, which correctly predicted previous contests. His share was also 61 percent in a preliminary count of 4 million votes by the General Election Commission.
Leveraging that victory into achieving his goal of growth rates on par with China and India will hinge on the ability to build roads, ports and power plants and lure foreign investment. To do so, he’ll have to overcome a bureaucracy where power is decentralized down to the district level across 17,500 islands.
“I would say a ‘definite yes’ in maintaining very solid economic growth, a ‘maybe yes’ to become the 9 percent superstar,” said Milan Zavadjil, Indonesia country head for the International Monetary Fund. “To go to the China level you need to take care of some issues, like major improvements in infrastructure, the investment climate and the legal system.”
Former President Megawati Soekarnoputri, 62, was running second with 26.6 percent, according to the institute. Vice President Jusuf Kalla, 67, trailed with about 12 percent. The commission won’t provide final results for about two weeks.
Yudhoyono, known better as ‘SBY,’ has pledged to double infrastructure spending to as much as $140 billion during a second term to achieve annual growth rates of 7 percent. The president will also need to tame the rupiah, Asia’s most volatile currency, to reduce investment risk. It has both plunged 40 percent and gained 19 percent within the past 12 months. more...
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