How to Make a Bad Situation Worse:
the role of the IMF & Suharto in Indonesia's 1997-1998 financial crisis
by Georgia Lysaght
Abstract
This paper examines the critical role played by both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and President Suharto in the Indonesian financial crisis in 1997-1998. While a number of countries in the region were seriously affected by the financial crisis, the Indonesian case was particularly severe. This had been attributed to two major factors. First, it is argued that the measures implemented in Indonesia by the IMF were highly inappropriate and produced debilitating economic results, which adversely affected a large proportion of the Indonesian population. Second, it appears that President Suharto's top priority lay in protecting the interests of his family and closest associates, rather than the interests of the Indonesian people as a whole. Consequently, the crisis in Indonesia was far more severe than originally inevitable.
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Biography
Georgia completed her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) majoring in politics in 2004. Her PhD is in International Relations and focuses on the ramifications of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program in Indonesia during the financial crisis compared to the results of the state-led program carried out in Malaysia.
Georgia can be contacted at gl13@uow.edu.au
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