Quoted from the Ministry of Economy's page, Burhanuddin Abdullah himself is not a newcomer in the government. He served as the Minister of Economy during the presidency of the 4th President of the Republic of Indonesia, Abdurahman Wahid. Burhanuddin completed his Bachelor's degree in Agriculture at Padjajaran University, Bandung in 1974.

He began his career journey at Bank Indonesia since 1981 as a staff in the Credit Affairs and Economic and Statistical Research Affairs, then as a staff of the governor. Furthermore, in 1989-1990, he was assigned as a Fixed-Term Staff at the IMF, Washington, DC, which continued as an Assistant Executive Director also at the IMF in 1990-1993.

Burhanuddin Abdullah also served as the Head of the Economic and International Trade Cooperation Division until 1995. In the same year, he was also appointed as the Deputy Head of Foreign Affairs for one year, then became the Deputy Head of Economic Research and Monetary Policy until 1998. He briefly served as the Deputy Governor based on Presidential Decree No. 218/M of 2000 on August 2, 2000, after previously serving as the Director of the Foreign Directorate.

After a long journey, Burhanuddin Abdullah finally filled the position of Governor of Bank Indonesia for the period 2003 to 2008. After leaving the position of Governor of Bank Indonesia, Burhanuddin was inaugurated as the Rector of the Indonesian Cooperative Management Institute (IKOPIN) on September 14, 2011. He filled the position of Rully Indrawan, who had served from 2007 to 2011.