United States President Donald Trump has revived his tariff agenda under a new legal justification. After the Supreme Court struck down his "Liberation Day" tariffs in February, his administration turned to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, accusing trading partners of failing to prevent forced labor in their supply chains. Indonesia is among the affected countries, which has raised questions about how effectively it is tackling forced labor at home.

The Constitutional Court just handed down a much-needed reality check on the country's public finances. By striking the free nutritious meal program out of the national education budget, the court drew a clear line in the sand: money set aside for education needs to go toward education. Now, the government has to figure out a transparent, long-term way to fund its flagship free meals program without taking a bite out of other vital national priorities.

The arrest of 142 suspects by South Sumatra Police has brought renewed attention to what authorities describe as one of the largest fuel embezzlement cases in the country’s recent history. Between January and July 2026, police uncovered 96 cases involving the diversion and illegal trade of subsidized fuel, with an estimated 1.4 million liters of fuel allegedly siphoned from the official distribution system.

For most of his first two years in office, President Prabowo Subianto Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikusumo, 72, is a retired Army lieutenant general, a businessman and the incumbent Defense Minister (2019-present). Due to his proximity to power throughout his military career, he entered politics in 2004 to pursue his dream of becoming the nation’s president. enjoyed a honeymoon that simply refused to end. Survey after survey showed him with approval numbers most world leaders can only dream of. That period has now ended. It was a long and genuinely good run, but the latest data from Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) confirm that political reality has caught up with him.

Indonesia's latest return to China's capital market has been met with overwhelming demand as the government successfully issued two tranches of yuan-denominated Panda Bonds totaling 7 billion yuan (Rp 18.6 trillion or US$1.1 billion) to help finance the 2026 state budget. The offering was oversubscribed by 2.4 times, underscoring continued confidence in Indonesia's fiscal outlook. However, the timing of the issuance has also attracted attention, as it comes amid heightened scrutiny over Indonesia's economic relations with major global powers.

President Prabowo Subianto is once again reshaping Indonesia's economic institutions. This time, he has instructed the Financial System Stability Committee (KSSK) to involve the Danantara sovereign wealth fund in its deliberations, creating what Danantara CEO Rosan Roeslani calls "KSSK Plus." But when a state investor joins discussions where its own risks may be assessed, the question is whether the arrangement strengthens policy coordination or weakens institutional independence.

Indonesia has introduced a new exception to its natural resources export proceeds (DHE-SDA) policy, allowing exporters from the United States, China, Australia and Canada greater flexibility in managing their export proceeds. The announcement marks the first significant relaxation of a policy that, only months earlier, was expanded to require most natural resource exporters to retain 100 percent of their export earnings in Indonesia's state-owned banks (Himbara) for 12 months.