Prabowo Tells Davos Indonesia Chooses Peace, Capital Discipline, and Inclusive Growth

JAKARTA, Investortrust.id — President Prabowo Subianto delivered a wide ranging address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, Jan 23, 2026, positioning Indonesia as a stable, credible, and opportunity rich partner amid global conflict, fragile trust, and economic uncertainty. Speaking before global political and business leaders, Prabowo said peace and stability were the ultimate prerequisites for growth and prosperity, warning that “there will be no prosperity without peace.”

Prabowo said international confidence in Indonesia was grounded in evidence rather than optimism, citing steady economic expansion and disciplined macroeconomic management. “Indonesia’s economy grew by more than 5% every year over the last decade, our inflation remains around 2%, and our government deficit is kept below 3% of GDP,” he said, adding that these fundamentals underpinned resilience despite global tightening and geopolitical stress.

He emphasized that Indonesia’s credibility had been built over decades through consistency and fiscal responsibility. “Indonesia in our history has never once defaulted on our payments of our debt, not once,” Prabowo said, stressing that successive administrations had always honored obligations inherited from their predecessors.

Turning to capital allocation, Prabowo introduced Indonesia’s newly established sovereign wealth fund as a central pillar of future growth. “Last February we established our sovereign wealth fund, Danantara Indonesia, with one trillion US dollars in assets under management,” he said, describing Danantara as the energy to power Indonesia’s future and a vehicle to co invest globally as an equal partner.

He said Danantara would finance industries of the future under strong oversight and international standards. “We want the best governance and the best management, and I have allowed Danantara to recruit expatriates so we can have the best brains and the best minds in the world,” Prabowo said, adding that the fund would streamline more than 1,000 state owned enterprises to about 300 to eliminate inefficiency.

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Prabowo highlighted aggressive fiscal reforms early in his administration, saying a broad efficiency drive had freed significant resources. “In the first two months of my administration, we saved 18 billion dollars by stopping inefficient and dubious programs and redirected these funds to projects that directly improve livelihoods,” he said.

Those savings funded expansive social programs, including a nationwide free nutritious meals initiative. Prabowo said the program had scaled rapidly from 190 kitchens serving 570,000 meals per day to more than 21,000 kitchens producing 59.8 million meals daily within a year, targeting children, pregnant and lactating mothers, and elderly people living alone.

He framed the program as both social protection and economic stimulus. “More than 61,000 micro, small, and medium enterprises are now part of this supply chain, creating over 600,000 jobs at the kitchens alone,” Prabowo said, projecting up to 1.5 million direct jobs at peak implementation.

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Health and education reforms were presented as productivity investments rather than populist measures. Prabowo said 70 million Indonesians now received free annual medical checkups for life, arguing that early detection would save billions in long term treatment costs while improving labor productivity.

In education, he said the government had renovated more than 16,000 schools and equipped hundreds of thousands with digital interactive panels, with plans to expand further. “Human capital determines long term growth and long term returns,” Prabowo said, warning that lack of education was “the path toward failed states.”

Prabowo also detailed targeted interventions to break what he called the cycle of poverty, including boarding schools for children from the poorest households and new universities partnered with leading institutions from Europe and North America. “I am determined that the son of the poorest should not be poor,” he said.

On governance, Prabowo struck a forceful tone against corruption and illegal practices, saying the rule of law was non negotiable for investment. “There is no investment climate without the certainty of equitable rule of law,” he said, adding that his administration had confiscated four million hectares of illegal plantations and mines and revoked licenses of 28 corporations operating on protected forests.

He described these practices as “greedonomics,” saying they undermined sovereignty and public trust. “I challenge anyone who thinks officials from my administration can be bought to try,” Prabowo said, pledging continued enforcement despite resistance.

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Prabowo said Indonesia was open to trade and investment, rejecting fears of integration when done fairly. He cited new trade and economic partnership agreements with Europe, Canada, Peru, Eurasia, and the United Kingdom, framing trade as a tool for shared prosperity rather than a threat to sovereignty.

Closing his address, Prabowo said Indonesia sought friendship over confrontation and peace over chaos. “We want to be a friend to all, an enemy to none,” he said, inviting global partners to engage with Indonesia’s reform agenda and long term vision grounded in stability, credibility, and inclusive growth.