Indonesia’s Finance Minister Blasts Citi for Budget Deficit View

Indonesia’s finance minister has taken aim at Citigroup Inc. for a report that said the Southeast Asian nation’s budget deficit could breach the legal limit this year.

Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa also brandished his doctoral degree in economics, saying Citi’s Helmi Arman, who penned the report and has two master’s degrees, was “not a real economist.”

“You should ask a PhD,” Purbaya said, pointing to himself in an interview with Bloomberg TV’s Haslinda Amin at a business forum on Tuesday in Jakarta.

Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa in Jakarta on Feb. 3.

Photographer: Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg

In a January report, Citi raised its 2026 budget deficit forecast for Indonesia to ...