Jokowi's Rocky First Year in Indonesia

The extent of Jokowi’s power will also inevitably remain tied to economic performance. On this front, the prognosis remains poor. The economy is in its worst shape since 2009. Some of this results from factors beyond this government’s control—for example declining commodity prices, China’s economic woes and even El Nino, which has brought a crippling drought and major crop failures. But the government’s erratic stewardship has aggravated the issue further and reflected badly on Jokowi. His government initially championed an unrealistic 7 percent annual growth rate—which is constantly being revised downwards—as well as food self-sufficiency by 2017, which is an unlikely and arguably undesirable target, since vast investments in low-yield agricultural production do not always square with the profitable pursuit of comparative advantage.