Prabowo Puzzled: Indonesia's Economy Grows, Yet Poverty Deepens

Indonesia’s economy has reportedly grown at an average rate of 5% over the last seven years. However, during the same period, the number of people living in poverty has actually increased and the middle class has contracted. President Prabowo Subianto expressed astonishment at this anomaly, stating that something is wrong with the economic system.

Prabowo said that logically, Indonesia’s wealth should have increased by about 35% over the seven-year period. Yet, the data he received two months after officially taking office showed a different reality.

“Logically, over seven years Indonesia should have become 35% richer, but the reality, this data emerged two months after I became president. The reality is, after seven years of 5% growth, how can the number of poor people increase?” Prabowo said during the closing of the National Conference of Religious Scholars and the Grand Conference of Nahdlatul Ulama, broadcast via the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube channel on Tuesday (23/6/2026), as reported by detikFinance.

According to Prabowo, the anomaly is not only visible in the rising number of poor people. The middle-class group that had previously escaped poverty is also shrinking.

“The country is getting richer, but the poor are increasing. This is something strange, an anomaly. The middle class that had previously escaped poverty is declining. They say the country is 30% richer, yet the poor are increasing and the middle class is shrinking,” he added.

Prabowo assessed that this condition indicates that the fruits of economic growth are being enjoyed by only a handful of people. He therefore stressed the need to fix an economic system that has failed to distribute the benefits of growth equitably.

“And this is also what we must be wary of: that those who are getting richer are only a select few. So, we must see that this means our system is wrong, this system is wrong. Because if the poor are increasing and the middle class is also shrinking, it means that only a handful of people are enjoying this growth,” Prabowo asserted.