Indonesia replaces its Finance Minister again: Suahasil Nazara takes over from Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa after 371 days

Banking & FXUpdatedUpdated: September 16, 2026

President Prabowo Subianto replaced Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa with Suahasil Nazara on Monday 14 September 2026, in what local media count as the sixth reshuffle of the Merah Putih cabinet. Suahasil — Deputy Finance Minister since October 2019 and a former head of the Fiscal Policy Agency (BKF) — was sworn in at the State Palace at around 15:30 WIB for the remainder of the 2024–2029 term, making him the third person to hold the finance portfolio under Prabowo after Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Purbaya. No official reason was given for the change, and Purbaya had been at a DPD working session on the 2027 draft state budget that same morning. Markets took it badly at first: the IHSG fell as much as 2.5% intraday before closing almost flat on the day, then dropped a further 1.13% on Tuesday, while the rupiah weakened on both days to around Rp17,694 per US dollar.

Key points

Confirmed: on 14 September 2026 President Prabowo swore in Suahasil Nazara as Finance Minister at the State Palace, around 15:30 WIB, for the remaining 2024–2029 term. The State Secretariat (Deputy for Administrative Affairs Nanik Purwanti) announced the appointment.
Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa held the post for 371 days (8 September 2025 – 14 September 2026). He had himself replaced Sri Mulyani Indrawati, so Suahasil is the third finance minister of this administration.
No official reason for the removal has been given. Purbaya spent that morning in a DPD RI Committee IV working session on the 2027 draft state budget, telling it that "Indonesia's economy remains stable amid current global uncertainty" — hours before the change was announced.
Suahasil Nazara's background: born 23 November 1970; economics degree from Universitas Indonesia (1994), MSc from Cornell (1997), PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2003); professor of economics at UI since 2009; head of the Fiscal Policy Agency (BKF) before becoming Deputy Finance Minister in October 2019. He is a continuity appointment from inside the ministry rather than an outside pick.
Market reaction, as reported: on 14 September the IHSG dropped as much as ~2.5% intraday before closing down 0.10% at 6,534.69, and the rupiah closed 58 points (0.33%) weaker at Rp17,669/USD. On 15 September the IHSG fell a further 1.13% to 6,461.15 — described in reporting as the weakest Asia-Pacific emerging market index that day — with the rupiah slipping another 0.14% to Rp17,694/USD.
Local media describe 14 September as the sixth cabinet reshuffle of this administration. Other portfolio changes were rumoured around the same time, but as of writing we could only confirm the finance ministry change; treat reports about other ministries as unconfirmed.
Context for the market reaction: two of the three major agencies already had Indonesia on a negative outlook before this change, both citing policy predictability. Moody's affirmed Baa2 but moved to negative in February 2026, pointing to "reduced predictability, which risks undermining policy effectiveness"; Fitch affirmed BBB and moved to negative in March 2026, citing "increasing policy uncertainty and erosion of Indonesia's policy mix consistency and credibility." S&P went the other way, affirming BBB/A-2 with a stable outlook on 13 July 2026 and treating the recent fiscal and external softening as temporary. All three still rate Indonesia investment grade. We are reporting where the outlooks already stood, not forecasting what any agency will do next.

What this means for your Indonesian entity

This is macro and sentiment, not compliance: no filing deadline, tax rule, or reporting obligation changes because the minister changed. What it does touch is the rupiah line in your books. The rupiah weakened on both 14 and 15 September to around Rp17,694/USD, so if you hold USD-denominated intercompany loans, payables or receivables, your month-end revaluation for September will reflect a weaker rupiah than the start of the month — worth flagging to whoever signs off the close, rather than discovering it in the variance review. Two practical watch items rather than predictions: (1) whether the 2027 draft state budget (RAPBN) currently before parliament changes shape under a new minister, since that is where next year's tax-policy direction gets set; and (2) whether the DJP reorganisation and tax rules issued under Purbaya carry through unchanged. We are not forecasting the rupiah or advising on hedging — that is investment advice and outside what this page does.

Sources

This page summarises publicly available information for orientation. It is not tax, legal, or accounting advice, and regulations change. Verify against the linked primary sources and contact us before acting on anything here.

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