By Gayatri Suroyo and Stefanno Sulaiman

JAKARTA (Reuters) -Just a few months before being named Indonesia’s new finance minister, Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, raised eyebrows in markets by calling the International Monetary Fund “stupid” for cutting its growth outlook for Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

“Don’t believe the IMF. If you want economic prediction, ask me. I know better,” he said, even though the lender’s 2025 GDP growth forecast of 4.7% was largely in line with analysts’ expectations and reflected global uncertainty.

Purbaya said Indonesia’s economy crashed during the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s when it requested financial assistance from the IMF, but did much better in subsequent crises without the IMF.

The comments provided a glimpse of the governing style of Purb

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