Prabowo Urges State-Owned Banks to Lower Lending Rates for Low-Income People

President Prabowo Subianto has asked banks within the state-owned Himpunan Bank Milik Negara (Himbara) to lower lending interest rates for low-income households. He argued that policy making credit cheaper for ordinary people is important to strengthen access to financing and to push for economic equality.

‘The poor are asked to pay higher interest than big entrepreneurs. I order the state banks, change. Lower the rates for the poor,’ Prabowo said during the 19th Plenary Session of the Indonesian DPR, Fifth Session Year 2025-2026, at the DPR building in Jakarta on Wednesday, 20 May 2026.

He stressed that state-owned banks are expected to strengthen their social role in supporting community economic development. According to Prabowo, large business players with wider access to capital basically have more financing options, including from global markets and commercial financial institutions.

The statement, he said, is in line with the direction of the Pancasila economic policy, which places the state to safeguard welfare equity and social justice.

In addition to monetary policy interventions, the Government on the same day also issued a Government Regulation on the Governance of Export of Natural Resource Commodities to strengthen fiscal revenue and maintain the country’s foreign exchange resilience. The move is expected to bolster the government’s fiscal capacity, ensuring room to finance social protection and community empowerment programs.