Minister of Finance Purbaya Recalculates the State Budget, Spending that is Not Urgent is Ready to be Postponed

JAKARTA - The government has started to recalculate the state's shopping space amid the threat of subsidy increases and pressure on the state budget. Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa said that what is being prepared now is a handle to see how far the budget is still safe.

"Yes, we anticipate how much the subsidy will be, what the condition of the state budget is like. That's what we have to anticipate," said Purbaya at the Presidential Palace Complex, Jakarta, Thursday, March 19.

One of the ways prepared is to postpone shopping that is considered not urgent. Purbaya gave an example of a meeting that was unclear about its benefits, until the policy had little effect on economic growth.

"The meeting is not clear, or the policy whose impact is slow to ... or not much to economic growth, we can postpone," he said.

He also emphasized that the government still has a small deficit room. In the design of the state budget, the current deficit is pegged at 2.68 percent of gross domestic product. This means that there is still a small room before touching the 3 percent limit.

"So there is still room for a little bit, zero comma so many percent," said Purbaya.

Regarding priority programs, he gave an example of savings in MBG. According to him, the entertainment component will not be issued, and this step is said to be able to save quite a lot.

"So that entertainment will not come out of MBG, it saves quite a lot," he said.

Even so, Purbaya has not talked much about the impact of the warming of the Strait of Hormuz on energy subsidies, including LPG. He left the matter to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.