Purbaya: Tanah Abang Market Still Bustling, Indonesia Far From Crisis
Jakarta — Following a visit to Tanah Abang Market in Jakarta, Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa assessed that consumer purchasing power is now improving.
He stated that this is evident in the continued bustle of visitors at the wholesale centre in Block A. This contrasts with assertions from several economists who claim consumer purchasing power has collapsed.
“So many economists say we’re already in recession, purchasing power is destroyed, traditional markets are destroyed, nobody comes. I wanted to verify this, because according to our data, the economy is doing well,” Purbaya said at Tanah Abang Market in Jakarta on Monday, 9 March 2026.
“There should be buyers at Tanah Abang and everywhere else. I wanted to check this, whether it’s true or not, and it turns out it is. There is still purchasing power, people are still shopping, the market is still bustling,” he stressed.
Purbaya acknowledged the possibility that the current market bustle could be due to the effect of his presence, which might have attracted public attention.
However, he argued that if this were the case, those gathering would necessarily be shoppers rather than merely curious onlookers, since his visit was an unannounced inspection rather than a scheduled event announced long in advance.
“If I come here and suddenly lots of people gather, it means there are many people around us who are shopping, which suggests that consumer purchasing power appears to be improving. And we are not in recession. Much less a crisis — we are far from it,” Purbaya said.
He also noted that Tanah Abang’s conditions demonstrate that surging global crude oil prices, which have reached US$113 per barrel due to the Iran versus US-Israel conflict, have not yet directly affected domestic economic activity.
“So our economy is doing well, friends don’t need to worry. Even if global oil prices rise, we will try to absorb the impact through the state budget and manage it as much as possible,” he explained.