A rare opposition
Prabowo administration’s decision to import 105,000 trucks from India through state company PT Agrinas has finally gained more oppositions, which is rare these days. Analysts, automotive industry association, lawmakers, and even ministry of industry have expressed their criticism to the decision.
Rally in Spindo
Shares of PT Steel Pipe Indonesia/Spindo Tbk (ISSP) advanced 4.42% Thursday (Feb 19) to follow 7.33% gain earlier on Wednesday as investors responded positively the company’s stable financial performance last year.
Persistent huge losses at Fajar Paper
PT Fajar Surya Wisesa Tbk (FASW) or Fajar Paper, one of the largest paper manufacturers in the country controlled by Thailand’s SCG, reported net loss of Rp1.14 trillion last year, inched up from Rp1.1 trillion in 2024 due to a lot of factors.
Prabowo’s Co-op: Imported trucks
The Financial Services Authority (OJK) claimed that the financial system had provided Rp148.6 trillion of financing to President Prabowo’s Red-and-White Village Cooperative (KDMP) program last year. Details are not available, but since fourth quarter of 2025, PT Agrinas, a state-owned company tasked to build KDMP’s operational facilities (building, office, warehouse, etc), did start construction works in some areas.
Digs pocket deeper to bail out Krakatau Steel?
State steel maker PT Krakatau Steel (KRAS), which struggled for decades to make money, has Danantara as its saviour. After receiving US$295 million shareholders’ loan late last year, which likely be converted into equity, Danantara stepped in as investor to replace China’s Delong Steel in a new steel project.
Danantara’s integrated poultry projects
ID Food, a state company involved in some food commodities, has over the weekend kicked off development of integrated poultry facilities in five locations under the Rp20 trillion investment from Danantara.
Garam’s salt projects
Danantara, holding company for state plantations, through state salt producer PT Garam, had officially kicked off three projects to support national salt self-sufficiency in East Java province, expanding the company’s output by 380,000 tons annually. PT Garam project is part of the simultaneous inauguration of six downstream projects in 13 locations by Danantara with a total investment of US$7 billion.
Osaka Steel & Illusion of Infrastructure Development Continuation
Investors were upbeat with the promised continuation of massive infrastructure development during Jokowi administration by his ‘successor of choice’ Prabowo Subianto. Their optimism, like supporters of Jokowi, grew higher when Prabowo announced development of 3 million homes per annum and the Giant Sea Wall (GSW) in the norther shore of Java Island.
Those continue to invest
Indonesia suffered substantial correction in foreign direct investment (FDI) last year due to global economic uncertainties, series of regulatory changes, concerns on fiscal discipline and overall investment climate. So, even small investment from foreign investors is now highly appreciated.
A chip shortage that exposes digital fragility
When Polytron, member of Djarum Group, quietly postponed the launch of its next laptop lineup due to tight global chip supplies, the decision barely registered beyond the technology page. Yet the delay says far more about Indonesia’s digital vulnerability than about one company’s production schedule. It is a warning sign that the country’s information technology (IT) ambitions remain hostage to global semiconductor dynamics over which it has little control.