The 15 Richest Indonesians Boost Their Wealth despite the Coronavirus Pandemic

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Fifteen Indonesians managed to ride through the pandemic and increase their wealth despite the turbulence that Covid-19 caused to the Indonesian economy over the last three months.

The elite 15 were named in the Forbes Real Time Billionaires’ data on June 29.

This is in stark contrast to the estimated 3.78 million new people whom the government predicts will be added to the majority that fall below the poverty line, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

This figure is listed as their worst-case scenario. Under a difficult scenario, the Indonesian government expects as many as 1.1 million Indonesians living in poverty.

Read also: Coronavirus Pandemic Seen Pushing Up to 5 Million Indonesian Workers Out of Jobs

Indonesia’s richest

The Hartono brothers take the first spot as the richest Indonesians based on Forbes' recent rankings.

Budi Hartono takes the lead with a combined wealth of $17.3 billion or around Rp 245.66 trillion.

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Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, his wealth grew $3.7 billion or approximately Rp 52.5 trillion within three months.

His brother Michael Hartono saw the same growth in wealth during the same period at $3.7 billion. Michael is positioned as the second-richest Indonesian in the world.

There are other rich Indonesians who made it to Forbes’ list whose total wealth also increased albeit less significantly.

The Tahir family saw their wealth grew $4.1 billion last April and more recently to $4.3 billion.

Taking the fifth spot in the Top 15 Richest Indonesians list, the Tahir Family has around Rp 61.6 trillion in wealth.

Forbes Real Time Billionaires tracks the increase and decrease in the wealth value of the richest people in the world on a daily basis.