Regional Head 'Screams' 8 Percent Budget Cut For COVID-19, Airlangga: 5 Percent Enough In 2022 Just In Case

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto said that the central government would provide leeway for local governments to more freely plan and use the budget starting in the 2022 period.

According to him, the mandatory 8 percent budget allowance for handling COVID-19 cases will no longer be enforced next year. The reason is, the decrease in daily cases and the acceleration of the vaccination program have made the level of pandemic spread more controllable.

"The hope of regional heads not to be cut into pieces depends on the pandemic. Yesterday, the earmarks for handling COVID-19 were cut by 8 percent, so at the end of this year they will be removed because the handling is better," he said in the BeritaSatu webinar on Monday, November 22.

However, the government called Airlangga did not just let go of the area in terms of handling COVID-19. Instead, each regional government is required to provide a budget that is smaller than the earmark amount.

"However, for next year, just in case, 5 percent is expected in case the COVID-19 pandemic enters the fourth wave. In Indonesia, we are still in the third wave, even though we don't want to, but readiness must remain as long as the pandemic has not been declared over by WHO," he said.

For this reason, he appealed to governors as leaders of provincial-level handling tasks to continue to monitor the latest developments in the field while carrying out PPKM strategies in accordance with the direction of the central government. the commander of the COVID-19 task force in their respective areas and must monitor which districts and cities are up (the case), gas and brakes must be carried out, "said Airlangga.

To note, this year the budget allocation for Transfers to Regions and Village Funds is in the range of IDR 770 trillion. This means that more than 25 percent of the 2021 APBN expenditure, which amounted to Rp. 2,750 trillion, is carried out through the regional government.