Indonesian finance minister Suahasil Nazara said on Friday, 13 November 2026, that the government will not cut fuel subsidies even though oil has become more expensive. Gasoline, diesel and electricity stay below market prices, to protect purchasing power, The Jakarta Post reported.

The Jakarta Post ties the price jump to the war in Iran, which it says has squeezed global crude supplies. From the start of the conflict the government promised not to raise the fixed prices consumers pay, even if oil were to average $100 a barrel. The budget uses a domestic benchmark, the Indonesia Crude Price, usually $3 to $4 below Brent. The 2026 assumption was $70 a barrel and was raised in July to $83 because of the Middle East conflict.

At the same briefing, Nazara said subsidies and compensation, for energy and for other items, had reached 415.8 trillion rupiah by the end of October, 32 percent above the 315 trillion recorded in the same stretch of 2025. Kompas and CNBC Indonesia report the same figure. Of that, 261.4 trillion is subsidies and 154.4 trillion is compensation. CNBC says the outturn is about 93 percent of the budget target. The Jakarta Post converts the total to about $22.85 billion.

Energy payments alone to Pertamina and PLN had reached 333.9 trillion rupiah by 30 October, Katadata reported. The ceiling for energy subsidies and compensation was raised, in the mid-year budget review, from 338 trillion to 500 trillion. That 500 trillion is not a closed bill: payments continue through November and December.

Sudarto, the finance ministry’s budget director-general, said at the same briefing that the budget law allows the allocation to be adjusted during the year, but that the ministry is still using the 500 trillion figure from the mid-year review. Nazara linked the higher need, starting in April, to the effect of the war.

Volumes rose as well. Subsidised fuel covered 15.24 million kilolitres, 9.5 percent more than a year earlier. Three-kilogram LPG reached 6,499 million kilograms, up 2.3 percent. Subsidised electricity reaches 43.5 million customers, up from 42.5 million. Subsidised fertiliser: 7.1 million tonnes, against 6.5 million, CNBC Indonesia reported.

The government is counting on revenue to carry the 2026 budget through to the end of the year without raising pump prices. The Jakarta Post says the administration restated that it will not cut the subsidy, even though the bill has already overrun the original plan.

Image: Wikimedia Commons — a Pertamina station (Henri Aja, CC BY-SA 4.0, 2022). The photo is not from the 13 November 2026 briefing.

Sources consulted: Government to maintain fuel subsidies despite rising expenditure — The Jakarta Post; The government may adjust the energy-subsidy budget — Kompas; The energy ceiling rises to 500 trillion rupiah — Katadata; 415.8 trillion rupiah in subsidies paid through October — CNBC Indonesia.