President Jokowi: Quality of State Expenditures Should be Monitored

President Jokowi delivers a statement at the Submission of Central Government Financial Report (LKPP) and the Audit Result Statement (IHPS) of Semester II of 2022, at the State Palace, Jakarta, Monday (06/26). (Photo by: PR of Cabinet Secretariat/Jay)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo called on all sides to monitor the accountability and quality of state expenditures to make the realization more on target.

The statement was made by the President during the Submission of Central Government Financial Report (LKPP) and the Audit Result Statement (IHPS) of Semester II of 2022, at the State Palace, Jakarta, Monday (06/26).

“If we can do it, our efforts to improve people’s welfare, strengthen stability and economic growth will be more effective in order to realize an advanced Indonesia that we are longing for,” he said.

According to the President, the monitoring must be done starting from planning to implementation so that the output of state expenditures can benefit the community.

“Every penny of the people’s money must return to the people. It must be spent on sectors which benefit can be directly felt by the people, not to fund the process. We must be careful about this,” he added.

Earlier, the Head of State underscored a number of findings that show state finances are spent on irrelevant sectors and not on target. The President said that the budget was intended for regional development, but it had been allocated for bureaucratic agenda.

“Let me cite an example of regional budget in a province but I will not tell you which province. The budget was initially allocated for dissemination on agricultural sector to improve human resources quality. The total budget is amounting to Rp1.5 billion, but Rp1 billion is used for official’s business trips,” he said.

Therefore, he encouraged the use of the state budget to focus on the government’s priority programs such as reducing [prevalence] of stunting, poverty alleviation, and other programs. In addition, the state budget can also be allocated for spending on domestic products, particularly products of Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs). (TGH/UN) (RAS/MMB)