Sri Mulyani Denies Government Rumors Of Difficulty Finding Debt Because BI Participates In Financing The State Budget: Absolutely Not

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani explained that the role of Bank Indonesia (BI) in supporting the State Budget through the purchase of Government Securities (SBN) does not mean that government financial instruments are no longer attractive to investors.

For this reason, the Minister of Finance dismissed the notion that the government was experiencing difficulties in making debt withdrawals.

"Absolutely not. In this case, there is no difficulty in making debt withdrawals," he said during a virtual press conference with the Governor of Bank Indonesia, Tuesday, August 24.

The Minister of Finance claims that the financial instruments owned by the government are still quite competitive in the eyes of capital owners.

"The government does not find it difficult to collect debt, both from the domestic market, global, or from bilateral or multilateral cooperation," he said.

The central bank's participation in supporting state finances, said Minister of Finance, is more of a BI initiative to support various government programs and activities, especially in handling health and humanity in the current pandemic situation.

"As stated by the Governor of BI, this (budget financing support) is a call to contribute in extraordinary situations while still paying attention to the signs owned by Bank Indonesia," he said.

For information, the collaboration in APBN funding by BI is the implementation of Law Number 2 of 2020 concerning Policies for Handling the COVID-19 Pandemic, which is then stated in a Joint Decree (SKB) of the Minister of Finance and the Governor of Bank Indonesia.

For information, the monetary authority over the past year reported helping to support the state budget through the purchase of SBN worth Rp473 trillion.

Meanwhile, for 2021, the institution led by Perry Warjiyo, until August 16, 2021, was recorded to have purchased IDR 131.96 trillion of SBN, consisting of IDR 56.50 trillion through the main auction mechanism and IDR 75.46 trillion through the Greenshoe Option (GSO) mechanism.

As for the 2022 State Budget, BI is committed to supporting state finances in the amount of no less than IDR 224 trillion.