launch:
Spending for Development: Making the Most of Indonesia's New Opportunities - Ten
years after the beginning of the East Asian Financial Crisis
In July 1997 the East Asia Financial Crisis started, hitting Indonesia's economy
worse than any other in the region. The country underwent a sharp economic
contraction, pronounced depreciation and inflation rates, and severe political
turmoil. After a decade of successful macroeconomic management, radical
decentralization, and various bold policy decisions, Indonesia is finally in a
position of fiscal strength. Since 2006, Indonesia has freed up "fiscal space"
of about US$15 billion. Equivalent to around 7 percent of GDP, this is the
largest increase in additional fiscal resources since the 1973-74 oil revenue
wind fall, providing a tremendous window of opportunity for Indonesia to upgrade
its public services. If Indonesia is to stay competitive, then it is crucial
that some of these precious additional resources are channeled towards higher
quality and more accessible secondary and tertiary education, an improved and
more equitable health system, and better infrastructure provision.
This book is the first Public Expenditure Review to cover national and
sub-national spending in Indonesia. It sheds light on the impact of the
country's transition towards decentralization and the new ways in which public
resources are now administered and allocated.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
12:00 pm
World Bank J Building, J1-050
Followed by a light lunch reception
"Indonesia has now entered a new era in which more fiscal resources are
available for the first time since before the economic crisis. We are now facing
problems of success and we need to use the new opportunities to upgrade our
infrastructure, education and health systems. While there are no easy answers,
this report provides valuable assistance in assessing the best ways forward if
Indonesia is to achieve its national development goals in the next few years."
Prof Ali Wardhana ─ Former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for
Economics, Finance, Industry and Development
Chair
Jim Adams
Vice President of the East Asia and Pacific Region, World Bank
In his capacity as Vice President, Mr. Adams has overall responsibility for
World Bank operations in one of the world's most dynamic regions, covering more
than a dozen states ranging from the world's most populous country, China, to
the smallest and most remote Pacific Islands states.
Presentation by Author
Wolfgang Fengler
Senior Economist of the Indonesia Resident Mission, World Bank and main author
of "Spending for Development"
Mr. Fengler leads the World Bank's public finance and decentralization program
and has particularly engaged in the Aceh reconstruction program. He, together
with his team, has also produced several regional expenditure reviews, led the
Aceh and Yogyakarta reconstruction analysis, including the flagship report "Aceh
and Nias one year after the Tsunami". He is also the task manager of past and
present Development Policy Loans.
Panelists
Homi Kharas
Visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution
Mr. Kharas is an internationally respected authority on development economics
and served as the Chief Economist of the East Asia and Pacific Region of the
World Bank from 2001-2007. He has published widely in areas such as external
debt and developing countries, foreign borrowing and fiscal risks and contingent
liabilities. He also co-edited (together with indermit Gill) the recent and
widely acclaimed book, "An East Asian Renaissance: Ideas for Economic Growth".
Vikram Nehru
Director of the Economic Policy and Debt Department, Poverty Reduction &
Economic Management Network, World Bank
Mr. Nehru was the former Lead Economist for the World Bank's Indonesia Program
during and after the East Asian financial crisis (1997-2002). He has led most
of crisis and post-crisis economic dialogue for the World Bank in Indonesia and
published reports such as: "Indonesia: Imperative for Reform", "Indonesia:
Seizing the Opportunity", "Indonesia: From Crisis to Opportunity", "Indonesia in
Crisis". He has also had extensive research experience on issues of economic
growth, capital stock measurement, financial sector policy, industrial and trade
policy, and on the implications of global trends and developments on the
economic prospects of developing countries.
About the InfoShop
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forum for substantial debate on international development. Our extensive events
program consists of more than 250 events over the past two years and has hosted
many internationally recognized speakers including Queen Noor, Francis Fukuyama,
Jeffrey Sachs, Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz, Thomas Friedman, and Carly Fiorina.
The InfoShop functions as the only publicly accessible space at headquarters and
provides internal and external audiences with over 15,000 titles published by
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issues.
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