S&P Maintains RI Debt Rating, Purbaya: Buy Stocks, Don't Be Afraid Anymore

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa is confident that global investor sentiment towards Indonesia will improve after international rating agency S&P maintained the country’s sovereign debt or credit rating. Purbaya even went so far as to encourage capital market players to immediately buy shares. According to him, there is no longer any reason for investors to be afraid of investing in Indonesia. “So buy shares if you are a stock player. Don’t be afraid anymore, the rupiah will also strengthen automatically going forward,” Purbaya said when met at the Parliament Complex in Jakarta on Tuesday (14/7/2026). He acknowledged that before S&P released its latest assessment, doubts had emerged among investors regarding the Indonesian economy. This was especially the case after two other rating agencies, Moody’s and Fitch, lowered their outlooks for Indonesia, even though they also maintained the country’s credit rating. “People were actually doubtful, whether we were running good policies, whether our economic foundation was strong or not. When everyone said there was a possibility we would be downgraded—not just the outlook, mind you, because once the outlook drops, a downgrade is just a step away,” he explained. However, after S&P announced it was maintaining Indonesia’s credit rating at BBB for the long term and A-2 for the short term, with a stable outlook, Purbaya considered this as proof that the economy and the state budget (APBN) are being managed well by the government. “This shows that what was feared was not true and going forward we will be even better, because we will run policies more consistently. If there are inefficiencies, we will fix them going forward, so our economy will be strong,” Purbaya stated.