Indonesian president’s approval rating slips on economy concerns

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s approval rating has fallen slightly from the beginning of 2025, amid growing unease about the economy in South-east Asia’s most populous nation.

About 78 per cent of Indonesians interviewed said they were satisfied or very satisfied with Mr Prabowo’s performance since he

took office just over a year ago

, according to a survey released on Nov 8 by Indikator Politik. That compared with the 79 per cent satisfaction rate in a poll by the researcher in January.

The latest survey interviewed 1,220 people across Indonesia in October, and has a margin of error of 2.9 per cent.

Indonesia is struggling to boost economic growth despite Mr Prabowo’s lavish spending plans, which include

free school meals

and a new sovereign wealth fund.

The former general took office after being elected with a sizeable majority, but has been forced to deal with job losses in key industries and headwinds to global trade.

His government faced widespread and violent protests in August because of planned perks for lawmakers. Since then, the president has sought to quell discontent with

waves of stimulus announcements

, including jobs programs targeted at students. BLOOMBERG