Prabowo Wants Disaster Mitigation Budget Increased — Here Is Purbaya's Response

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has responded to President Prabowo Subianto’s wish to significantly increase the disaster mitigation budget allocation. The move is being prepared so that the government is ready to face potential disasters that could strike Indonesia at any time.

According to him, the budget will be increased in line with the request, although the government is still awaiting calculations from the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB).

“We will increase it in accordance with the request — it is BNPB that does the calculation. We shall see what BNPB’s calculations look like. I have not received them yet,” said Purbaya at the Presidential Palace complex on Monday (7/9/2026).

Earlier, during a virtual coordination meeting on disaster management on Monday (7/9/2026), Prabowo revealed plans to significantly increase the budget allocation for disaster mitigation.

Indonesia lies within the Ring of Fire, or Pacific Ring of Fire, meaning the government must always be prepared to face various potential natural disasters.

“We met via video conference; I simply wanted to monitor developments and at the same time hear the latest situation. We are facing various circumstances due to disasters — the earthquake in Flores, then the activity of Mount Anak Krakatau, and also forest fires and haze, which remain a problem for us all,” Prabowo said on Monday (7/9/2026).

According to him, these disasters serve as an important lesson for the government to strengthen preparedness, including on the budget side.

“This is our destiny — a nation located in the ring of fire. This means we must be ready to face such circumstances at any moment. So the lesson for the government that I lead is that the budget allocation for disaster mitigation must be increased significantly,” he asserted.

Prabowo assessed that the government’s capacity to respond to disasters has continued to improve. This was evident in disaster response in several parts of Sumatra, particularly Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra.