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Kolette Lim

Indonesia is on track for 10 per cent economic growth by 2029, beyond the 8 per cent target set by President Prabowo Subianto, his climate and energy envoy Hashim Djojohadikusumo has insisted.
Hailing multiple projects in the works such as social housing and the development of boarding schools for low-income families, Hashim told a forum in Jakarta on Tuesday that his elder brother Prabowo had to go up against “a quagmire of bureaucratic inertia and resistance” after winning the top job in the country on his third try 15 months ago.
Addressing attendees at the South China Morning Post’s China Conference: Southeast Asia 2026, he said: “It’s really the iron will of my president that things have gotten done … It’s been a hard slog.”
Since helming the leadership, Prabowo has rolled out multiple welfare programmes, including the flagship free meals scheme for children and free medical check-ups for the whole population.
Prabowo, according to Hashim, had been ruminating about the nutritious meals programme long before he won last year’s election by securing 58.6 per cent of votes – a margin the envoy said was higher than expected.
“At the moment, only 100,000 kids are being accommodated in 166 schools. The target is to do 500 schools, a maximum of 500,000 kids who are from the poorest of the poor,” Hashim said at a forum fireside chat.

These projects will improve the health and educational performance of Indonesia’s children and result in a “multiplier effect” on the economy, according to him. Growth would also be boosted by growing internet connectivity, the development of Indonesia’s downstreaming industry and infrastructure projects, he said.
Hashim also overrode his brother’s goal of 8 per cent economic growth – a figure many already deemed ambitious – and said it could be 10 per cent by the end of Prabowo’s term.
“When you have this mix of projects, I think 10 per cent, and not just for one or two years, but for the next eight to 10 years. I’m convinced.”
On criticism that such projects drained Indonesia’s coffers – the country recorded a 2.92 per cent financial deficit of 695.1 trillion rupiah (US$415.5 billion) last year, just shy of its 3 per cent cap – Hashim disagreed with the sentiment.
“It’s imminently affordable,” he said, attributing past deficits to bureaucracy and an inefficient tax and customs department, adding that the government would soon launch measures to increase revenue.
Indonesia aims to reach a budget surplus in three to four years, according to Hashim. “We should have a surplus of US$60 billion a year – that’s what we should have had if the finance ministry was properly managed.”
The problem of mismanagement had since been resolved with changes in leadership, with a new finance minister and director general of taxes recently assuming their posts, he said.

The administration is also correcting inefficiency by weeding out market manipulators and revoking the licences of companies whose activities are found to have contributed to environmental damage.
Prabowo revoked the licences of 28 forestry, mining and plantation companies last month, following floods and landslides that struck three provinces on the island of Sumatra.
“There was decisive action, and some of the elite were involved,” Hashim said. “So that’s a concrete example of where Prabowo wants to go. These are powerful people with powerful connections, but I think he’s proving the point.”
But he added that four companies had requested case reviews, which were likely to be carried out. “The president has said several times he does not want a miscarriage of justice. He doesn’t want to because of, let’s say, mob pressure to revoke indiscriminately.”
Hashim said the government was optimistic that the stock market would be corrected and might even impose steep fines on those manipulating prices.
Index provider MSCI last month stopped adjusting Indonesian stocks, citing opaque shareholding structures and what appeared to be coordinated trading behaviour.
Investors abandoned ship, five officials resigned and authorities have since pledged serious reforms to stabilise the market, including cracking down on disruptive trading.
“Now it’s just a matter of really weeding out the bad eggs … I think, frankly, heads are going to roll,” Hashim warned.


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The figure will be beyond Prabowo’s 8 per cent target, Hashim says, as he credits the president’s ‘iron will’ in overcoming bureaucracy and corruption


The figure will be beyond Prabowo’s 8 per cent target, Hashim says, as he credits the president’s ‘iron will’ in overcoming bureaucracy and corruption.


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Indonesia on track for 10% growth by 2029, energy envoy Hashim says

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The figure will be beyond Prabowo’s 8 per cent target, Hashim says, as he credits the president’s ‘iron will’ in overcoming bureaucracy and corruption

The figure will be beyond Prabowo’s 8 per cent target, Hashim says, as he credits the president’s ‘iron will’ in overcoming bureaucracy and corruption