PKS Faction Accepts 2020 State Budget Accountability Bill Sri Mulyani: Poor Government Performance, Swollen Debt Of Up To IDR 6,080 Trillion

JAKARTA – The Prosperous Justice Party faction decided to accept the government's 2020 State Budget Accountability Bill, represented by the Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani.

"By saying Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, the Prosperous Justice Party faction gave a Minderheit note, accepting with a note the results of the discussion of the Draft Law on Accountability for the Implementation of the State Budget for Fiscal Year 2020 in level I discussions to be continued in the next stage", said PKS legislator, Muhammad Nasir Djamil, at the Working Meeting Budget Agency (Banggar) with the Minister of Finance at the Senayan Parliament Complex, Jakarta, Monday, September 6, 2021.

In his presentation, Djamil said that his faction provided 28 notes on the implementation of the 2020 State Budget which was then summarized in several important points.

"First, the government's poor performance in debt management and this is exacerbated during the pandemic", he said.

Djamil explained the total government debt in 2020 reached IDR 6,080.08 trillion or 39.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

According to him, the increase in debt throughout 2020 which reached IDR 1,293.5 trillion or 27.2 percent from 2019 is proof of the management of the state's obligations.

"The high debt is in line with the interest expense in 2020 of 317.89 trillion, or an increase of 14.67 percent from 2019 which was IDR 277.23 trillion. This value is a new history of increasing debt accumulation in one fiscal year and the debt-to-GDP ratio of 2020 is the highest", he said.

“The increase in government debt and interest costs outpaced GDP growth and state revenues, raising concerns about the government's ability to repay debt and interest on the debt. For the record, this amount does not take into account the amount of debt of SOEs which are government-owned entities", he continued.

The second is a matter of the government's ability to manage state finances, which refers to fiscal instruments. Djamil said, the realization of the primary balance was recorded at negative IDR 633.61 trillion, which means the primary balance deficit increased by 766.42 percent from 2019 which was IDR 73.1 trillion.

Third, the realization of the 2020 State Budget deficit of IDR 947.70 trillion or 91.19 of the estimate is not considered by the PKS Faction as a positive achievement.

"This lower is not an achievement but rather the low performance of government spending which is only 96.4 percent of the budget ceiling", added Djamil.

The legislator from the electoral district of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam II also asked the government to make improvements and implement work programs.

"In 2020, the remaining excess budget financing (Silpa) is IDR 245.59 trillion or 9.46 percent of the total budget realization. High Silpa means that the performance of government planning is still low. Then, the government must also implement BPK's recommendations to get an increase in state revenue, especially in handling tax receivables", he stressed.