Jakarta. Indonesia will continue its once-a-week work-from-home (WFH) policy for government employees and encourage remote working arrangements after the government said the measure helped reduce national fuel consumption amid rising energy prices.

Chief Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto said the decision followed a two-month evaluation of the WFH policy, which was first introduced on April 1, as part of efforts to curb fuel use and ease pressure on state energy subsidies.

“We evaluated the WFH policy over the past two months, and the results have been quite positive,” Airlangga told reporters after a coordination meeting at his ministry’s office in Central Jakarta on Tuesday.

According to Airlangga, one of the key indicators was a nearly 9% decline in consumption of subsidized Pertalite gasoline in April compared with previous levels.

“Because the results are quite good, it has been decided that the policy will continue,” he said.

The government is now preparing new technical guidelines through various ministries and agencies to regulate implementation across different sectors, including civil servants, regional administrations, state-owned enterprises, and private companies.

For Indonesia’s civil servants, the continuation of the WFH arrangement will be regulated through a new circular issued by the Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry.

Regional government employees will follow separate guidelines issued by the Home Affairs Ministry, while remote working arrangements for employees of state-owned enterprises will be coordinated through the state-owned enterprises supervisory body. The private sector will be regulated through the Manpower Ministry.

Airlangga previously said the government planned to extend mandatory work-from-home arrangements every Friday for another two months, citing continued uncertainty in the global economy and the impact of armed conflict in the Middle East on global energy markets.

“As long as the war has not ended, the work-from-home policy will continue for the next two months,” Airlangga said after a limited cabinet meeting with President Prabowo Subianto at the Presidential Palace complex last week.

Indonesia has increasingly sought ways to manage fuel consumption and reduce pressure on the state budget as global oil prices remain volatile. Subsidized fuels such as Pertalite are widely used across the country, and rising energy costs have become a growing fiscal concern for Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

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