Regional State Budget Must be Disbursed to Boost Economic Growth

By Office of Assistant to Deputy Cabinet Secretary for State Documents & Translation     Date 27 Juli 2017
Category: News
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President Jokowi opens the 2017 National Working Meeting of Inflation Control at Grand Sahid Jaya Hotel, Jakarta, Thursday (27/7) (Photo: PR/Jay)

President Jokowi opens the 2017 National Working Meeting of Inflation Control at Grand Sahid Jaya Hotel, Jakarta, Thursday (27/7) (Photo: PR/Jay)

Reflected on the current condition of global economy, President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo said Indonesia’s economy has not performed well compared to other countries. All countries at the moment suffer from pressure on their economic growth.

“In the G-20, our country is among the top three, under India and PRC. We must be grateful for this,” the President said when delivering a remarks at the Opening of the 2017 National Working Meeting of Inflation Control at Grand Sahid Jaya Hotel, Jakarta, Thursday (27/7) morning.

According to the President, Indonesia’s economy growth is still highly dependant on consumption. Therefore, the President added, people’s purchasing power and consumption must be balanced.

The President also criticized government, in particular regional governments, expenditure. According to the President, a lot of regions are late to disburse the Regional State Budget (APBD). The budget majorly disbursed a few months before the end of the year.

The President recommended to manage it better. The budget must be disbursed since the beginning of the year, for example the advance payment can be disbursed since January. The President also reminded not to get used to put the money in the bank and then leave it idle for months.

“The money of APBD must be disbursed immediately so the money will circulate in the regions,” the President said.

 

Investment

Second, besides consumption and government expenditure, the governors, regents, and mayors must understand two things: investment and export.

The President reminded that it is impossible to boost economic growth from APBD’s jump. It is impossible. The key is to boost export and investment.

The President also said that export markets of commodities are now lethargic and this condition also happens in other regions, such as in America, European Union, and Latin America.

However, the President saw there are a number of provinces that have an opportunity to increase their export, for example South Sulawesi. If it is difficult to boost export, there is another opportunity, i.e. investment.

The President also reminded to improve the services of permitting process so it does not need months, even years, to process a permit. It must be finished in just a few hours. In centrak government, in BKPM (Investment Coordinating Board) for example, it only needs three hours to process nine permits.

“”Bring the required documents and the permit will be issued in three hours in maximum. It applies for nine permits, such as investment, deed of company and Tax Identification Number (TIN), Company Registration Certificates (TD), plan of use of foreign workers, permission to hire foreign workers, Importer and Producer Identification Number, customs registration numver, and letter of statement of information map of land availability,” the President said.

According to the President, it should be faster in the regions because their scope is smaller. Thus, these permits should be able to be finished rapidly.

The President also added that actually there are a lot of investors who are interested to invest in Indonesia. However, the process is complicated because there are so much regulations and the system is not good enough to support it. These are the regions’ homeworks.

On the other hand, the President was because happy several regions recorded a good economic growth, for example in South Sulawesi, the economy grew by 7.4 percent while in Makassar it was 7.9 percent. “It is probably the highest in the world,” the President said.

The President stated that it is difficult to reach these figures. In America or Europe, the economy grows by 1 or 2 percent on average, but in Makassar it can grow by 7.9 pecent. It is extraordinary. Other provinces, regencies, and cities must compete to achieve a good economic growth,” the President said. (FID/JAY/ES) (MMB/YM/Naster)

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