Prabowo Cuts Commodities Agency Powers as Indonesia Stocks Rebound 1% After 26% Slide
Updated
Updated · Financial Times · Aug 14
Prabowo Cuts Commodities Agency Powers as Indonesia Stocks Rebound 1% After 26% Slide
2 articles · Updated · Financial Times · Aug 14
Summary
Prabowo told parliament the commodities export agency created in May will monitor export transactions rather than trade them, easing a plan that had threatened to reshape shipments of nickel, coal and palm oil.
A 26% drop in Indonesia’s benchmark stock index this year and a 6% rupiah decline had intensified investor pressure over his interventionist policies; the index rose 1% on Friday, with miners among the biggest gainers.
Prabowo still cast the agency as a central processing point for exports and said it had found $5 billion in potential savings from pricing discrepancies, while promising to widen oversight across commodities.
He also pledged to keep but streamline the $12.8 billion free-meals program ahead of a 2027 budget address, as concerns over welfare costs, policy unpredictability and state intervention have hurt assets and his approval.