The Government Will Reduce Unemployed Funds In Bank Indonesia

BOGOR - The Ministry of Finance has begun to take strategic steps to reduce the number of unemployed funds or the More Budget Balance (SAL) that has been parking at Bank Indonesia (BI).

The funds are projected to reach more than IDR 400 trillion by mid-2025. However, the government targets to cut it to support national economic activity more actively.

One of the concrete steps taken is to divert part of the Government's funds from BI to the Association of State-Owned Banks (Himbara) amounting to Rp200 trillion on September 12, 2025.

Director General of Economic and Fiscal Strategy at the Ministry of Finance Febrio Nathan Kacaribu said that the condition of the debt securities market is now starting to be more liquid and provides space for the government to stop holding back too much cash in BI.

"We have the SBN and SPN markets that are already alive. So if we know this means liquid and competitive, the interest continues to fall. This is quite interesting for the government not to hold too much cash," he said at the 2026 State Budget Completes event, Thursday, October 9.

However, Febrio stressed, before the reduction in funds is carried out, the Ministry of Finance will ensure that monthly cash needs are accurately mapped.

The goal is that the available funds are sufficient to finance routine monthly spending without disrupting the stability of state finances.

"This is what we are preparing, if we are doing an assessment later, oh it turns out that the monthly needs are a few hundred trillion trillion at least, then we will still be able to access the market at any time," he said.

"So that later we will evaluate this with the direction of the Minister (Purbaya Yudhi Sadives), how much the level will go," he said.

He added that funds that had been transferred to banks would not be arbitrarily withdrawn even in an emergency situation and budget needs would be met through the issuance of debt securities if state revenues were not sufficient.

"So the Rp200 trillion, which is in the bank, is what we mean to use. So even though yesterday someone asked, this is an on call, yes, on call because it's called cash, according to the laws and regulations, the name cash must be on call," said Febrio.

Sebagai informasi tambahan, pemerintah telah menetapkan rencana penerbitan surat berharga negara (SBN) senilai Rp749,2 triliun pada tahun 2026.

"Targetnya adalah Rp749 trilin, bisa jadi lebih tinggi, bisa jadi lebih rendah. Yang jelas, kita masih kelola minggu demi minggu. Dan ada oversubscribe, itu modal yang kita selalu gunakan. Lalu kalau kita perlu cash, kita siapkan cash-nya berapa, issuance-nya berapa," ucapnya.

For additional information, the government has set a plan to issue state securities (SBN) worth IDR 749.2 trillion by 2026.

"The target is Rp749 trillion, it could be higher, it could be lower. What is clear is that we are still managing it week after week. And there is oversubscribe, that's the capital we always use. Then if we need cash, we prepare how much cash, how much is the issue," he said.