ASEAN Economic Development and the Middle-Income Trap

Born in Bandar Lampung on August 26, 1962, Sri Mulyani Indrawati earned her bachelor degree in Economics major from the Universitas Indonesia (1986). Then she continued her study in the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, United States and earned Master of Science of Policy Economics (1990). In 1992, she earned Ph.D of Economics. 

 
This specialist of Monetary Economy and Banking as well as Labor Economics research was chosen to be the Executive Director of International Monetary Fund (IMF) representing 12 countries in the South East Asia (SEA Group) at the beginning of October 2002. Starting from November 1, 2002, she represented 12 member countries of SEA Group at International Monetary Funds.
 
On December 5, 2005, she was appointed to serve as the Minister of Finance. During her devotion as the Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani Indrawati achieved many achievements, such as stabilizing macroeconomy, maintaining prudent fiscal policy, decreasing cost of loan and managing debt as well as creating trust to investors.

 
Minister of Finance’s reform was led by her very well. Hence, it created many fundamental changes in the Ministry of Finance. On September 18, 2006, Sri Mulyani was crowned as the best Minister of Finance in Asia by the Emerging Markets in the sidelines of World Bank and IMF’s Annual Session in Singapore.

 
She was also elected as the 23rd world’s most influencing woman from Forbes magazine in 2008 and the 2nd most influencing woman in Indonesia from Globe Asia magazine in October 2007. Sri Mulyani was also awarded as the best Minister of Finance for 2006 from the Euromoney and the best Minister of Finance in Asia by the Emerging Market Forum on the same year.

In 2008, she served as the Acting Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs after the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Dr. Boediono was inaugurated as the Governor of Bank Indonesia. Then she was appointed as the Executive Director of World Bank commencing on June 1, 2010.

 
On July 27th, 2016, President Joko Widodo inaugurated Sri Mulyani Indrawati as the Minister of Finance in his Working Cabinet. On February 11th, 2018, the World Government Summit has announced her as the best minister in the world.

In February 2021, she was elected Co-Chair of the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action (CFMCA) 2021-2023. The coalition is a forum that aims to support the collective efforts of finance ministers of member countries in the term of using fiscal policy, public financial management, and mobilization of climate change finance to encourage climate change action at the domestic and global levels. 

On October 11th, 2021, she received the Distinguished Leadership and Service Award from The Institute of International Finance. This award is given to individuals who have made outstanding and consistent contributions to the global economy and financial system through their leadership.

Last but not least, in December 12th, 2023, Sri Mulyani Indrawati received an honorary Honoris Causa Doctor of Laws from the Australian National University (ANU) in order to recognize her contribution and hard work in economic development, both in Indonesia and international level.

Indermit Gill is Chief Economist of the World Bank Group and Senior Vice President for Development Economics. 

Before starting this position on September 1, 2022, Gill served as the World Bank’s Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions, where he helped shape the Bank’s response to the extraordinary series of shocks that have hit developing economies since 2020. Between 2016 and 2021, he was a professor of public policy at Duke University and non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Global Economy and Development program.

Gill led the World Bank's influential 2009 World Development Report on economic geography. His work includes introducing the concept of the “middle-income trap” to describe how countries stagnate after reaching a certain level of income. He has published extensively on key policy issues facing developing countries—among other things, sovereign debt vulnerabilities, green growth and natural-resource wealth, labor markets, and poverty and inequality.

Gill has also taught at Georgetown University and the University of Chicago. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago

Febrio Nathan Kacaribu is Head of Fiscal Policy Agency, Ministry of Finance Republic of Indonesia. He has served as Head of Macroeconomic and Financial Research at Institute of Economic and Community Research (LPEM) since 2015 and was inaugurated as Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency in 2020. His areas of expertise include Economics and Business Projections, Economic Models, Financial Economics, Monetary Economics, and Public Policy Analysis.

Somik Lall is Senior Adviser to the Chief Economist of the World Bank Group.

Lall has recently directed the World Bank's 2024 World Development Report on the “Middle Income Trap” that examines how middle-income countries can break into the ranks of the wealthiest economies.

Previously, he headed the climate economics and policy team in the World Bank’s Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions vice presidency, where he developed and supervised policy research programs on resilience and economic development, the macro-criticality of climate change, and innovations for the low-carbon transition.

His other roles include being the Global Lead for territorial development and Lead Economist for the World Bank’s Cities Practice where he developed a novel data-driven approach to help city mayors rapidly respond to protect their citizens from the ravages of COVID 19. Listen to his Monocle podcast.

Lall is widely published in academic and policy journals. His 2021 book, Place, Productivity, and Prosperity, provides a new analytic framework to discipline policies targeting specific places within countries. His 2017 book, “Africa's Cities: Opening Doors to the World,” provides new evidence on institutional and regulatory constraints that hobble urbanization in Africa.

Dr. Lall also teaches at Johns Hopkins University and has been a Visiting Professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy in New Delhi.

Dr Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti often called ‘Winny’ currently serves as Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs, at the Ministry of National Development Planning/National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) of the Republic of Indonesia. She was appointed Deputy Minister in December 2020, after her assignment as Senior Advisor to the Minister of National Development Planning for Economy and Financing at the same institution.

In July 2023, she was also appointed as an Acting Chief Statistician/Head of BPS-Statistics Indonesia until now, along with her responsibilities as a Deputy Minister at the Ministry of National Development Planning. She started her career at the Ministry in 1999. She is experienced in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the head of SDGs National Secretariat in 2018-2020.

Her strong interests are in the areas of macroeconomics, international economics, trade and economic development, as well as economic modelling and impact analysis.

Amir Hamzah Azizan was appointed as the Finance Minister II effective 11 December 2023. Prior to assuming the role of Finance Minister II, he had helmed the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) as Chief Executive Officer since March 2021.

With a corporate experience spanning more than 27 years, Amir Hamzah began his career with a decade-long tenure at the Shell Group of Companies. During this period, he held diverse roles in Malaysia, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. Subsequently, he joined MISC Berhad in 2000 and held several senior management portfolios before being appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer in January 2009.

Following his tenure at MISC Berhad, Amir Hamzah took on the role of Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of PETRONAS Dagangan Berhad in June 2010. In August 2012, Amir Hamzah joined PETRONAS Lubricants International as Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, concurrently serving as the Vice-President for Downstream Marketing, and subsequently as Vice-President of Lubricants for the PETRONAS Group.

In March 2016, Amir Hamzah joined Ekuiti Nasional Berhad (Ekuinas) to steer its investee company Icon Offshore Berhad as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. Subsequently, he took on the role of Group Chief Executive Officer at Themed Attractions Resorts and Hotel Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Khazanah Nasional Berhad. In April 2019, he further showcased his versatility across industries by taking on the role of President/Chief Executive Officer at Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB).

Amir Hamzah has also contributed to various organisations in non-executive capacities. He formerly served as the Non-Executive Chairman of Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB) and held directorial positions on the boards of Sime Darby Plantation Berhad and Sime Darby Oils International Limited.

Amir Hamzah holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Management (majoring in Finance and Economics) from Syracuse University, New York. He has also attended the Stanford Executive Programme at Stanford University, and the Corporate Finance Evening Programme at London Business School.  

Roberto N. Fattal Jaef is a Senior Economist in the Macroeconomics and Growth team of the World Bank’s Research Department. His research interests cover various areas of macroeconomics, with a special emphasis on economic growth. Current and recent research topics include: 1) understanding the role of market distortions for firm level behavior, entrepreneurship, and long run macroeconomic outcomes; 2) investigating the micro and macro patterns of transition growth paths, 3) studying the role of credit for the business cycle. Prior to joining the Bank, he worked at the International Monetary Fund’s Research department (2011-2013). He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from UCLA. 

Kenan is an Economist at the Development Economics Vice-Presidency’s Development Policy Unit. His research interests cover various cross-cutting areas of macroeconomic policy, including economic growth, social protection, and sovereign debt. Prior to joining the World Bank, he worked as the Head of Department at the Ministry of Treasury and Finance in Türkiye. Kenan holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Hacettepe University, Türkiye, and a Master’s of International Development Policy from Duke University.

Ufuk Akcigit served as the Academic Lead for the World Development Report 2024. He is also the Arnold C. Harberger Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago. Prior to that, he served as Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on macroeconomics, economic growth, firm dynamics, innovation, and entrepreneurship. He is also widely published in the top economic journals. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Maria Vagliasindi is currently Lead Economist in the Infrastructure Vice-Presidency. She has been leading analytical work and policy dialogue on energy and infrastructure reforms in several developing countries worldwide. She has written widely on the economics of competition, regulation, and public-private partnerships (PPPs), and also on governance of state-owned enterprises. Before joining the World Bank, she worked in the Chief Economist’s Office of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development. She has also been a Lecturer in Economics, teaching industrial and public economics at the University of Edinburgh. Maria holds an MPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Economics from the University of Warwick.