Burhanuddin Abdullah Reveals Contents of Meeting with Prabowo at the Presidential Palace

Jakarta – The Governor of Bank Indonesia for the period 2003-2008, Burhanuddin Abdullah, has spoken about the contents of his meeting with President Prabowo Subianto at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Friday, 22 May 2026. He said the meeting discussed episodes in the economy of the past.

‘There was an event that happened before. Perhaps it can serve as a lesson now,’ Burhanuddin told reporters.

He explained that in the meeting he was asked for his views on the energy crisis that occurred during 2005-2008, to draw comparisons with current conditions. At that time, the government raised fuel prices (BBM) by up to 126%, driven by external factors.

‘Those were the factors. I mean external factors. And the impact then was similar to now; perhaps the way to handle it needs to be refined,’ he said.

Burhanuddin also said Prabowo did not consult specifically about the rupiah’s depreciation against the US dollar. However, he noted that the exchange-rate discussion was conducted because during the energy crisis of 2005, the rupiah’s depreciation also burdened government subsidies.

It is known that during the 2005 crisis the rupiah depreciated by 8.6% compared with 2004, as reported by DetikFinance. On average in 2005 it stood at around Rp 9,713 per US dollar, although it briefly fell to Rp 11,900 per US$ by the end of August 2005.

‘Not specifically, but the overall impact from the current global factors first, then domestic factors, because subsidies were large at that time,’ he said.

Furthermore, Burhanuddin also responded to BI’s policy to raise the benchmark interest rate to 5.25%, an increase of 50 basis points, as a correct decision in the face of the rupiah’s weakness currently reaching the level of Rp 17,600 per US$. He said that when he was governor of BI, he also took several such rate hikes in 2005 to stabilise the rupiah.

‘Thus (the benchmark rate) rose from 8% at the time to 12.5%. That still had a positive impact because inflation was projected at 17%, so even at 12.5% the rate was still negative,’ he stated.