Luhut Pandjaitan, who heads the National Economic Council (DEN), has long pushed for ending subsidies on Solar and Pertalite, the country’s most popular subsidized fuels.

The benchmarking studies ought to take a team of government officials to Egypt, Turkey and India to learn the design of their legislative and judiciary buildings for Indonesia's planned new capital city.

He wants to tap into the fund's assets -- planned to be more than $900 billion -- to boost Indonesia to developed economy status, despite expert concern about its governance.

Prabowo on Monday inaugurated the new fund, known as Daya Anagata Nusantara or Danantara, which is modeled partly on Singapore's investment arm Temasek.

Bank Indonesia (BI) has kept its key interest rate unchanged and expects just one cut in the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) benchmark rate this year.

Real Estate Indonesia (REI) central board chairman Joko Suranto says a lack of details on the program run by the Public Housing and Settlements Ministry is causing instability in the country’s property market.   

According to the senior economy minister, the new policy requiring businesses to park 100 percent of their forex earnings domestically for at least one year aims to curb transfer pricing, while the President said it would boost the country’s forex reserves and ensure that its natural resources benefited the people.

The fund’s immediate priority would be kickstarting 15 multibillion-dollar megaprojects without tapping external financing, according to the President, such as renewable energy, advanced manufacturing, downstream industries and food production.

President Prabowo Subianto on Monday signed a regulation requiring exporters of resources other than oil and gas to hold all proceeds locally for at least a year, which he said would add US$80 billion to the country's forex reserves.

The government has reassured that the budget cuts will not result in the axing of contract workers or the cancellation of Indonesia Smart Card (KIP) Kuliah program beneficiaries.

On Wednesday, House Commission II greenlit an additional Rp 8.1 trillion (US$520 million) for the megaproject, bringing the total 2025 allocation to nearly Rp 14 trillion.

Indonesia and Turkey inked an agreement to boost renewable energy development during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s state visit on Wednesday.

The President has announced that the country's new investment agency Danantara will be launched on Feb. 24 with an initial capital of around $20 billion.

The energy minister is touting coal as a renewed investment opportunity with solid potential, alleging that Trump's announcement on US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement had triggered a global about-turn in clean energy efforts.

After a bumpy start to implementing the President's instruction to slash budgets across ministeries and agencies, including some "misinterpretation", the government has decided to include 13 out of 16 institutions that were initially exempt from the sweeping efficiency policy.

The government planned to have some civil servants start working from the future capital city starting this January, but the Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry issued a letter in early February to postpone the move indefinitely.

Deputy Minister Kartika Wirjoatmodjo noted that Danantara’s investment focus would be related to President Prabowo Subianto’s policy priorities, such as food security, housing and energy.

On Monday, President Prabowo expressed frustration over resistance to the budget cuts within “the bureaucracy”.

The Downstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Agency (BPH Migas) is slated to reduce the amount of Solar subsidized diesel fuel motorists can buy per day to ensure its equal distribution.

Coretax would remain operational and taxpayers could still use the prevailing system to file their tax return, tax office says.

The World Bank says setting up a business in Indonesia takes too long when compared to other countries, and the government has vowed to fix that.

Budget cuts led to a reduction in new irrigation networks planned to be built this year, from 10,000 hectares to 450 ha, as well as cuts in irrigation network rehabilitation from 45,000 ha to 16,000 ha and dam constructions from 16 new dams to only one dam this year.

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that the tariffs, which he will announce on Monday, will apply to "any steel coming into the United States," adding this will also affect aluminum. 

“How can we speak about progress when we don’t even have the budget [to continue it],” Public Works Minister Dody Hanggodo told reporters after a meeting with the House of Representatives.

The eventual cancellation of de minimis means the more than 1 billion small-value e-commerce packages arriving annually in the United States with goods coming directly from China must switch to an entry process that requires additional information and duties, adding time and cost.

President Prabowo Subianto issued on Jan. 23 a presidential instruction that mandates all ministries and state agencies to identify spending items that could be cut to save an estimated Rp 306 trillion (US$18.7 billion).

The HKI has urged the government to stay the course in Indonesia's energy transition, after certain members of the Prabowo administration made public statements questioning the relevance of the Paris Agreement following Trump's decision to withdraw US participation.

BPJS Kesehatan members might need to brace for a rate hike next year, the health minister has said, though the actual figure is yet to be determined.

Following the fatal accident on Tuesday at the Ciawi 2 Tollgate, experts stressed the urgency of implementing the zero ODOL policy to reduce accident risks, improve fuel efficiency and safeguard road safety.

In another policy flip-flop that led to long lines of people waiting to buy subsidized LPG at retailers and distributors, the energy ministry is now forming a new agency to oversee distribution of the subsidized cooking gas to authorized sellers.