Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Reveals Three Main Points of Economic Policy Package

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani (Photo by: PR of Cabinet Secretariat/Rahmat)

Amid global economic turbulence, China’s economic slowdown, and drought caused by El Niño, the Governmnet through Ministry of Finance launched  the State Budget (APBN) policy package in order to maintain stability and momentum of economic recovery.

The statement was made by Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani at the press conference of the State Budget information book, “APBN KiTa”, in Jakarta, Wednesday (10/25).

Related to El Niño, the Minister went on to say that the occurrences of El Niño phenomena have resulted in a surge in commodity prices, including rice that has also contributed to high inflation. In addition to El Niño, the high interest rates in developed countries and the weakening outlook of the global economy have brought a significant impact on Indonesia’s economy and society.

“To that end, the State Budget needs to provide protection through the increasing in social assistance,” the Minister said.

By observing this policy, she continued, affected low-income communities will be still able to enhance economic activities and Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) can continuously be supported through provision of the People’s Business Credit (KUR).

The points in the policy package are as follows.

Firstly, the strengthening of social assistance program. The Government will distribute rice assistance and Direct Cash Assistance (BLT) which aim to maintain people’s purchasing power, price stability, and inflation rate.

For the record, the rice assistance will be handed over to 21.3 million beneficiary families (10 kilograms per family) during December 2023 with a total budget of Rp2.67 trillion. The BLT will be channeled to 18.8 million beneficiary families (Rp200,000 per family per month) during November-December 2023 with a total budget of Rp7.52 trillion.

Secondly, the acceleration of KUR realization. It aims to optimize the role of MSMEs.

“We encourage that the KUR can reach its target of Rp297 [trillion] this year. We notice that the implementation of KUR has been slowed down in the first semester, so we ask for the acceleration to reach the target,” she added.

Thirdly, the strengthening of housing construction sector aims not only to boost the property sector, but also to help low-income communities to own a house.

The Government will provide the Government-borne Value Added Tax (PPN DTP) for new housing priced below Rp2 billion. In addition, the Government will provide low-income communities an Administration Fee Assistance (BBA) amounting to Rp4 million per housing. Furthermore, the Government will also increase the target for Integrated Prosperous Housing Assistance (RST) for the vulnerable communities by 1,800 houses.

“It is our hope that we can still maintain our economy amid global uncertainties,” she remarked. (FID/UN) (AP/RAS/LW)