President Jokowi on Government Spending: Accountability, Effectiveness, Efficiency are Crucial

President Jokowi gives directives on National Coordination Meeting of Government Internal Supervision at the Bogor Palace, West Java province, Thursday (27/5. (Photo: BPMI/Muchlis Jr)

Accountability, effectiveness and efficiency in government spending are very important, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has said.

“Other than that, I also would like to address other issues to the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) and all levels of the Government Internal Supervisory Apparatus (APIP),” President Jokowi said at the 2021 National Coordination Meeting of Government Internal Supervision at Bogor Presidential Palace, West Java province, Thursday (27/5).

First, President Jokowi asked the BPKP and the APIP to continue speeding up and monitoring government spending.

Both agencies, he added, are also expected to provide the right solutions for ministries, institutions and regional governments to realize and accelerate government spending.

Until May 2021, according to the President, the realization of government spending, both at the central and the regional level, was still relatively low at only around 15 percent for the State Budget and 7 percent for the regional budget.

The absorption of the national economic recovery program budget is also still low at around 24.6 percent, he added.

Likewise, the realization of the procurement of goods and services from ministries / agencies which is still around 10.98 percent in the first quarter and less than 5 percent for regional governments.

“I am asking the BPKP and the entire APIP to take a proper look, to find the cause and solution to solve this problem. Then monitor ministries, institutions and regional governments to realize their spending quickly and accountably,” he said.

Second, President Jokowi also ordered the BPKP and the APIP to continue improving supervision of the quality of program planning.

The monitoring, he added, must be carried out from the start so that the planned programs have a clear benchmark of success and benefits the community and they must also be adaptive and adaptable to the current situation and condition.

The President cited an example of when he often encountered infrastructure developments without planning of the development of the surrounding areas.

“The development then becomes less optimal and has not brought maximum benefits to the people. Therefore, I order the BPKP and the APIP to guard things from the very beginning of the planning phase,” he said.

Third, the President maintained that the BPKP and the APIP must focus improving the quality of data managed by the Government.

Integration and synchronization of inter-program databases need to be guarded to improve data reliability so that government-run programs can be right on target, he added.

The Head of State went on to say that data accuracy remains a problem and has hindered the implementation of the Government’s programs, while pointing out the inaccurate and overlapping data for social assistance have slowed down distribution of social assistance and make poorly-targeted.

“Data from the Central Government and regional governments are often not integrated. We need to address this issue. The BPKP must help oversee improvement in the quality of government-managed data. We also must make the most of the BPKP’s forensic data and analytical data laboratories,” he said.

On that occasion, President Jokowi also reminded his Cabinet and regional leaders to ensure that the BPKP and the APIP can work independently and professionally, while reminding them to also provide the two agencies with access and accurate information to facilitate their supervision tasks.

“I order ministers, heads of institutions, regional leaders to seriously follow up on the recommendations from the BPKP and the APIP,” he said.

At the same time, the President also reminded the BPKP and the APIP to help the Government achieve development goals.

All levels of the APIP, he pointed out, must act and supervise before a mistake occurs so that cooperation between the Government and government internal supervisors can run well to realize the government’s development program.

“Amid difficult times like this, we need to work fast, strengthen synergy, collaboration, checks and balances, cooperate with each other, correct each other, improve each other so that government programs can run effectively and benefit the community. In the end, we hope our nation can immediately rise from the pandemic,” the President said. (FID/UN) (EST/EP)