Gov’t to Maintain State Budget Sustainability: Minister

By Office of Assistant to Deputy Cabinet Secretary for State Documents & Translation     Date 9 Agustus 2022
Category: News
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Minister of Finance delivers a statement after a plenary cabinet meeting in Jakarta, Monday (08/08). (Photo by: PR of Cabinet Secretariat/Rahmat)

The Government is currently finalizing the 2023 State Budget Bill (RAPBN) that will be submitted by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to the House of Representatives (DPR) on August 16, 2022.

“The President has ordered us to maintain State Budget deficit below 3 percent as well as the sustainability of the State Budget,” Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati said after attending the plenary cabinet meeting chaired by President Jokowi, Monday (08/08).

Sri Mulyani said that national priorities in 2023 are the development of human resources, development of infrastructure, including the new capital, and the elections.

“We will use central and regional expenditure to support national priority programs and financing measures, including the education endowment fund which will continue to be managed for our future generations, as well as provide a mechanism for shock absorber.” the Minister said.

Sri Mulyani further explained that the Government would pay attention to state revenues in drafting the 2023 RAPBN, adding that the very high windfall tax from commodities in 2022 may not be repeated in the coming years.

“We estimate that we will get Rp279 trillion in tax revenues from commodities. It probably won’t be repeated or it won’t be this high for next year. From the customs side, we get an export duty of Rp48.9 trillion for 2022, especially for commodities with export duties, such as CPO,” the Minister said.

Regarding the Government spending, Sri Mulyani said that the budget allocation of Rp933 trillion in 2023 will be used for various national program.

In the education sector, she added, the Government is committed to allocating the education budget by 20 percent [of the total budget], while the budget allocation for the health sector will be increased to strengthen the national health system.

The Government will also allocate a very large budget for subsidies and compensation in the coming year. This year, the allocation is estimated at Rp502 trillion.

The Minister said that the President has ordered Government apparatus to make a stress test on the State Budget to anticipate the global economic situation. The test aims to maintain the economy and to maintain sustainability of the State Budget.

“We have made several scenarios regarding the next year’s situation to anticipate volatility that is higher than what we expect,” she remarked. (DND/UN) (RI/MMB)

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