President Jokowi Instructs Government Institutions to Accelerate Expenditures
President Jokowi delivers remarks on a Plenary Cabinet Meeting on Tuesday (7/6), at the State Palace, Jakarta
President Joko Jokowi Widodo on Tuesday at the State Palace instructed his ministers to anticipate instability in global economic condition.
The economic movements changed rapidly in days, hours, and seconds, President Jokowi said in his remarks on a Plenary Cabinet Meeting, at the State Palace, Tuesday (7/6).
The country depends on two things: state expenditures and investment and both will trigger our economic growth, President Jokowi said.
The President also reminded his ministers to accelerate state expenditures to boost the economic growth.
In December 2015, I warned all ministries and institutions to boost and accelerate their expenditures. However, I noticed that expenditures in some ministries and institutions are still low, the President said, adding that only several ministries are able to make improvements, including Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing, which accelerated its expenditures 4 times faster than it was last year.
President Jokowi went on to say that investment realization at the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) must be accelerated in order to bring concrete effects for the economic growth.
We must realize that even the less favorable countries than Indonesia are also trying hard to attract investors. Therefore, if the development of one project can be carried out by private sectors or the investors, let them do the works, the President added.
Do not use the State Budget to fund the projects that already have investors. We can use the budget to fund another sectors instead, the President stated.
The Government must also maintain several indicators on direct investment, the inflation rate particularly ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, as well as gini ratio index, the President added.
Be careful. This is indeed the responsibility of Ministry of Trade, but other ministries also play their roles, including Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises which contribute to the inflation, the President said, adding that all ministers are expected to maintain inflation rates below 4 point in 2016.
On that occasion, President Jokowi also expressed his gratitude for Indonesias economy that expanded by 4.92 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2016 even though it shrank 0.12 percent as compared to a 5.04 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2015. (FID/ES)(RAS/EP/YM/Naster)
