Asia
President Prabowo Subianto also announced that the government was planning to revise its citizenship law to allow some Indonesians to hold dual nationality for the first time.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto delivers his annual State of the Nation address, ahead of the country's Independence Day celebrations in Jakarta on Aug 14, 2026. (Photo: AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
14 Aug 2026 06:53PM
JAKARTA: Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Friday (Aug 14) proposed to parliament a US$230 billion budget for 2027 with a fiscal deficit at 2.4 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), amid plans to maximise benefits from resource earnings to boost growth to 6 per cent next year.In his annual budget speech to parliament, Prabowo said the 2027 budget will remain expansive and will be focused on eight key programmes, which include achieving food and energy self-sufficiency, building domestic industrial sectors and education.Prabowo, who pledged tighter control over the country's natural resources, also proposed a plan to create a commodity exchange for Indonesia's strategic commodities, aiming to launch operations on Jan 1, 2027.It would follow a plan to monitor commodity exports through a company, Danantara Sumber Daya Indonesia (DSI), which he had earlier announced will be fully operational in December. "We want to develop an Indonesia reference price for Indonesia's main commodity exports," he said. Prabowo added that Indonesia would prefer to keep minerals like nickel, tin, and coal in the ground if buyers do not agree with the price Indonesia sets."Indonesia must not forever remain a country where commodities are extracted while their prices and profits are determined elsewhere. We do not merely want to be a global producer of commodities; we must become a price-setter for global commodities."The president also said that an arm of Indonesia's sovereign wealth fund Danantara is being prepared to handle long-term development projects that are not commercially viable in the short term but are important for the country.The arm will be called the Danantara Development Management Fund and will invest in projects including Java island's giant sea wall project.
