Gov’t Committed to Prudent Fiscal Policy for Next Year’s Budget Financing: Finance Minister

Image source: Ministry of Finance.

The Government is committed to prudent fiscal policy for the next year’s State Budget financing, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani has said.

“We will still rely on our Government Securities (SBN) whether it is domestic or global, conventional or sharia, and retail or non-retail,” the Minister said on Tuesday (28/7).

The Minister also said that the central bank Bank Indonesia (BI) can still be a standby buyer, and that Ministry of Finance and the BI will decide on how the BI will continue to carry out its functions as a regular auction participant or as a participant of green shoe option or private placement.

The Government will also seek bilateral and multilateral funding in order to get relatively cheap funding sources and get maximum productivity from the source of funds.

“Of course we will continue to manage the outstanding debt carefully, because with an increasing deficit we also see that our debt-to-GDP ratio can get closer to 40%,” she said.

Sri went on to say that the Government still provides energy subsidy in the next year’s expenditure, adding that Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and Ministry of Social Affairs are expected to ensure that the subsidy for LPG, electricity, and fuel are well-targeted.

The Minister further said that the Government is also committed to prudent policy on providing incentives and social assistance. The President will make a decision on the matter in the next two days. (TGH/EN)

Translated by: Ridwan Ibadurrohman
Reviewed by: Mia Medyana