Please Note, The Ministry Of Home Affairs Asks The Regional Government To Conduct An Auction For The Procurement Of Goods And Services At The Beginning Of The Year

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) has asked local governments to conduct an auction for the procurement of goods and services at the beginning of the year.

"We really hope that new spending behavior, especially regarding the procurement of goods and services contractually will no longer be carried out in the middle of the year, but we can start at the beginning of the year," said the Director General (Dirjen) of Regional Financial Development (Keuda) of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mochamad Ardian Noervianto, in his statement in Jakarta, Antara, Thursday, September 2.

The Presidential Regulation (Perpres) on the procurement of goods and services provides space for local governments to conduct auctions the day after the draft regional revenue and expenditure budget (APBD) hits the hammer.

"The Presidential Regulation on the procurement of goods and services provides room for if today the regional government knocks the hammer on the draft regional budget, tomorrow please auction it," he said.

The Ministry of Home Affairs encourages auctions to be carried out as soon as possible once the draft regional budget (APBD) is ratified in November or December so that the spending posture and realization graph does not sag at the beginning of the year and increase significantly at the end of the year.

"We will try to change it later in 2022, such a pattern will not repeat itself, if necessary, there will be a significant increase in numbers starting from July-August, because the auction has been carried out early on," he said.

Then, he explained that regional government cash in banks as of July 31, 2021 reached IDR 173 trillion.

Therefore, the Ministry of Home Affairs encourages local governments to cultivate a new culture of spending behavior, especially regarding the contractual procurement of goods and services that is no longer carried out in the middle of the year.

As is known, in 2021, a number of new local governments will conduct auctions for the procurement of goods and services in May-June. This has implications for the absorption posture and composition of local government cash in banks.

"So in the future, if we can do this auction from the start, of course, we hope that the data regarding the stored cash will not be described as like the local government is saving money to look for deposit interest," he said.