Sri Mulyani Prepares 3 Economic Guard Policy Packages, From BLT El Nino To Free Home VAT

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani (Photo; Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The world economy is still overshadowed by a number of negative sentiments ranging from geopolitical conflicts, commodity price volatility, interest rates increases, rising raw material prices, climate problems, and inflation. This is estimated in the future to slow economic growth.

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati said that the uncertainty of the global economy will greatly impact the domestic economy. Therefore, the government has prepared three policy packages to maintain people's purchasing power and stabilize the national economy.

According to Ani, her nickname, with various global sentiments, Indonesia's economic growth will be lower than the 5.06 percent plan, which is at 4.86 percent.

Therefore, to anticipate the economic impact that will be caused in the future, the government has prepared three policy packages. Among other things, adding social assistance to mitigate the impact of El Nino in order to maintain people's purchasing power.

According to Sri Mulyani, initially the government only planned rice assistance from March to November 2023 with a budget of IDR 15.9 trillion. Then added for December 2023 with a budget of IDR 2.67 trillion.

In addition to the rice assistance, the government also provides BLT with a budget of IDR 7.52 trillion, which will receive IDR 200,000 per month, namely in November and December 2023. So that the total money received by the community is IDR 400,000.

Furthermore, the second policy package is that the government will strengthen MSMEs by accelerating the distribution of KUR subsidies which are budgeted at IDR 297 trillion.

Then the third package is in the form of value added tax incentives (VAT) which will be borne by the government (DTP) for houses below Rp. 2 billion, administrative cost assistance and additional target assistance for integrated welfare houses. this program will take effect in 2023 and 2024 with a total budget of Rp. 3.2 trillion.

Sri Mulyani hopes that with this policy package, the Indonesian economy in the fourth quarter of 2023 can continue to grow 5.06 percent. So that overall the 2023 economy grew 5.1 percent.

"Hopefully the various steps that have been prepared can make our economy survive the shock of global uncertainty," said Sri Mulyani in a press conference on the APBN KITA, Wednesday, October 25.

Sri Mulyani said that with various negative sentiments, it would reduce Indonesia's economic growth to 5.1 percent, down from the target in the 2024 State Budget at 5.2 percent.