Media: Wealth of Indonesia's 50 Richest People Exceeds State Budget
The Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS) released a report and study titled “Report on Economic Inequality in Indonesia 2026: Republic of Oligarchy” at Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM) in Jakarta on Tuesday (21/4/2026). CELIOS Public Policy Director, Media Wahyudi Askar, stated that the wealth of the 50 richest individuals is equivalent to that of 55 million Indonesians.
“The main finding is that the wealth of the top 50 trillionaires is greater than the state budget and equivalent to one-fifth of Indonesia’s GDP,” said Media.
Media explained that the oligarchy’s assets are recorded to increase by Rp 13 billion per day, compared to workers’ wages that only rise by Rp 2,000 per day. He noted that 58 percent of the wealth of the 50 richest people comes from extractive businesses that exploit natural resources.
Media said the report shows that inequality is not fate, but the result of a system reproduced across generations. He mentioned that children from poor families inherit limitations in access to education, health, and social mobility.
“Wealth is concentrated in a handful of people, the majority of society struggles to meet basic needs, and it has a significant impact on informal workers, women, and young people,” Media continued.
Media stated that economic growth above five percent is often used as an indicator of success, but it frequently ignores the distribution of results and does not show who benefits from the growth. CELIOS’s findings, said Media, indicate that the total wealth of the 50 richest people has experienced a significant increase from Rp 2,508 trillion in 2019 to Rp 4,651 trillion, or nearly double.
“Without changes in economic and political structures, the 50 richest people in Indonesia will have wealth equivalent to 111 million Indonesians,” said Media.
Media conveyed that the government always jokes that Indonesia’s economy is growing rapidly with growth figures above five percent. However, he continued, this measurement of development progress based on growth numbers has long been abandoned in modern economic discourse because it ignores the most important dimension of development, namely who actually enjoys the results of that growth.
“This way of thinking is still often repeated by some boomer economists who lack a sense of justice in viewing the distribution of development outcomes,” Media added.