JAKARTA, Indonesia — Less than 10 months into his term, President Joko Widodo of Indonesia on Wednesday fired four Cabinet ministers, including crucial members of his economic team, in a reshuffle that reflected growing frustration with struggles to improve the country’s sluggish economy.
The economy is growing at its slowest pace since 2009, with gross domestic product rising only 4.7 percent year on year in the second quarter.
The biggest casualty of the reshuffle was Sofyan Djalil, the president’s coordinating minister for the economy, who was replaced by Darmin Nasution, the former governor of Bank Indonesia.
Sofyan was reassigned to become head of the national planning agency, which is also a Cabinet position, replacing Andrinof Chaniago.
Rachmat Gobel, the country’s trade minister, was replaced by Thomas Lembong, a private investment fund manager.
In addition, Joko appointed Rizal Ramli as coordinating minister for maritime affairs, a sector that the president is counting on to help his economic turnaround plans.