Indonesia unveils economic stimulus package worth almost $1 billion

JAKARTA, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Indonesia on Monday announced a new economic stimulus package worth 16.23 trillion rupiah ($989 million), including food assistance and an infrastructure building programme that could provide temporary work for more than 600,000 people.
The stimulus measures will be implemented in the fourth quarter of 2025, the country's chief economic minister Airlangga Hartarto told reporters, adding that some measures would be extended to 2026
Southeast Asia's largest economy grew 5.12% annually in the second quarter, its best growth rate in two years, but some policymakers said there were signs it was slowing in the subsequent quarter.
"With this stimulus package, we hope we could still reach the 5.2% economic growth target this year," Airlangga told reporters after holding a meeting with the president.
The government will give 18.3 million households 10 kilograms of rice in the fourth quarter, remove personal income tax for workers in the tourism sector and allocate 5.3 trillion rupiah for a "cash for work" scheme for more than 600,000 people in the September to December period, Airlangga said.
Cash for work" schemes usually involve providing daily wages to employ people, mostly from rural communities, to work on infrastructure projects like roads and bridges.
The stimulus package also included a paid internship programme for 20,000 university graduates and a 50% discount to policy payments for state-provided work injury insurance for ride-hailing motorcycle taxi drivers and truck drivers, Airlangga said.