Mulyani on rumours of her resignation and the implications of Bakrie saga

As well as Indonesia’s economic woes, Mulyani has had to contend with a developing saga that has threatened her government's credibility, the national economy and indeed her own career. Bakrie and Brothers is the holding company for a group that contains some of the country’s most prominent businesses, mainly in the energy, property and telecoms sectors, and it is in trouble. The firm was looking to raise around $1 billion to repay maturing debts and hit upon the solution of selling its stake in Bumi Resources, a coal-exporting firm, for $1.3 billion to a consortium headed by investment group Northstar. The collapse of the Bakrie group on failure to repay these debts would have exacerbated the effects of the financial crisis on Indonesia, so news of the sale came as relief to the administration as well as to the beleaguered company.

But there is a...