Students look at water bottles that were provided in the gift bags they received at the Indonesia Smart Card event held on Saturday (3/6) at SMK Muhammadiyah 7 Gondanglegi vocational school in Malang regency. President Joko Widodo attended the event, which was organized to distribute Smart Cards to orphan students.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The State Budget is focused on human resource investment. This is mainly done through budget allocation on health, education as well as poverty and prosperity gap alleviation.
The government spending for 2018 reaches Rp 2,220.7 trillion, twice the spending a decade ago.
“This is something we must do. Not because of the approaching election that the program must be populist. But because this is the right of the people in line with the goal of our independence,” Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said in her keynote speech during the commemoration of Money Day in Jakarta on Thursday (26/10).
Sri Mulyani said this step must be accompanied with infrastructure development to optimize human potential. The infrastructure includes road, airport, seaport, telecommunication and electricity network.
“Developing infrastructure is not a luxury and a hobby. Developing infrastructure is a must that we can make Indonesia into a unitary state where the entire people can connect and do not feel isolated or left behind,” she said.
The government and the House of Representatives have concluded the deliberation of the 2018 State Budget Draft. During the House plenary meeting on Wednesday (25/10), eight political parties gave their approval. The Prosperous Justice Party gave approval with notes. Gerindra Party opposed it. According to mechanism, the House must pass the 2018 State Budget Draft into law.
State revenue is targeted at Rp 1,894.7 trillion and spending at Rp 2,220.7 trillion so that the deficit is Rp 325.9 trillion or 2.19 percent of the gross domestic product.
Finance Ministry fiscal policy agency head Suahasil Nazara said what the government could promise is to implement the spending of Rp 2,220.7 trillion as credible as possible. “If this is implemented, may the trust of the public and the business players increase that the consumption, investment and business expansion can be realized soon,” he said.
The spending allocation is, among others, for education Rp 444.13 trillion, infrastructure Rp 410.7 trillion and state apparatus Rp 365.8 trillion. The budget for poverty and prosperity gap alleviation is Rp 283.7 trillion, defense Rp 220.8 trillion and health and subsidy Rp 111.03 trillion and Rp 156.22 trillion, respectively.
Optimistic
President Joko Widodo believes the economic growth target of 5.4 percent in 2018 is attainable by increasing export. “It must be increased continuously. Now we start seeing nontraditional export market,” the President told reporters when attending the 2017 National Working Meeting of Indonesian Buddhists at Jakarta International Expo in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta yesterday.
The nontraditional export markets are the countries outside the main trade partners, Japan and China.
In separate occasion, state owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia president director Suprajarto said BRI tried to boost credit growth. He said he hoped the real sector and investment grow next year. “I am optimistic the economic growth will increase next year,” he said in Jakarta yesterday.
Bank Central Asia tries to increase credit growth through State Own Enterprises and infrastructure project financing. “We hope particular contractor and industry develop so that the credit demand, mainly infrastructure credit increase. Therefore, economic growth could reach 5.4 percent next year,” said BCA president director Jahja Setiaatmadja.
Yesterday, Jakarta Composite Index was down 0.49 percent at closure to 5,995. During the stock trading session yesterday, JCI made another record index of 6,042 at 9:53.
