The government claims it can save trillions of rupiah in state funds from austerity measures it has taken in anticipation of widening revenue shortfall.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati recently said that the government would have to slash Rp 65 trillion (US$4.9 billion) from the budget it had allocated for ministries and state institutions this year and Rp 68.8 trillion from the regional transfer budget in light of a projected taxation revenue shortfall of Rp 219 trillion this year.

Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution said on Friday that the government managed had already saved almost Rp 6.5 trillion (US$496 million) by cutting spending for official trips, meetings and focus group discussions. Meanwhile, efficiency measures taken by several ministries and institutions on their operational spending resulted in Rp 8.3 trillion in savings, he said.

In addition, the Health Ministry and the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry could save Rp 875 billion and Rp 2.1 trillion, respectively, from efficiency measures carried out in their tender processes.

"State capital expenditure will be much less [than the initial allocation], but only for non-priority projects," Darmin told reporters at his office.

Darmin asserted that priority projects for which tenders had already been held would keep going and that social aid program spending would not be reduced.

"We're still discussing the details and [President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo] will issue a presidential instruction in the next two days," he said.

Source:
courtesy of THE JAKARTA POST

by Prima Wirayani

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