According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS, the national data office), strong economic growth of 6.1% in 2010 pushed GDP per head above the US$3,000 mark at which a country is officially accorded middle-income status by the World Bank. (The Economist Intelligence Unit calculates that GDP per head last year was slightly lower, at US$2,909.) The middle-income classification may be arbitrary, but it underlines the economic progress that Indonesia has made in recent years. The World Bank's country director for Indonesia, Stefan Koeberle, said in February that "Indonesia is emerging as a self-confident, rising and dynamic middle-income country". Nevertheless, great inequalities in income distribution persist, meaning that tens of millions of people continue to live in poverty. Corruption, a weak and venal civil service and poor infrastructure greatly constrain the country's economic performance, and these obstacles to growth will now need to be tackled through difficult reforms-measures that the paralysed coalition government seems in no position to push through-if Indonesia is to fulfil its potential.

However, the era of middle-income status could herald an acceleration in development-other Asian countries have grown rapidly after passing this threshold. Indonesia's economic planners are not lacking in ambition: the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) has outlined an economic master plan that aims to lift the country to high-income status within 15 years. The vision was outlined in February by the minister for development planning, Armida Alisjahbana, and targets annual GDP growth of 7-8% from 2013. If this were to happen, Indonesia would become one of the world's ten largest economies by 2025. To achieve this target, annual investment of Rp2,417trn in infrastructure would be required for the next 15 years. This compares with private investment of Rp2,000trn, public infrastructure spending (only partially realised) of Rp95trn and a public works budget of Rp36trn in 2010.