These Are The Details Of 4 Times Budget Refocusing By Sri Mulyani Who Was Alluded To By Bamsoet

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani (Photo: screenshot of the Ministry of Finance Youtube)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the MPR RI Bambang Soesatyo (Bamsoet) assesses that the government has carried out refocusing of the state budget without first coordinating with the institutions he leads.

The statement was directly addressed by Bamsoet to the Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani. This immediately became public attention and was widely reported by the media

"Several times the MPR Budget Agency invited Sri Mulyani to a meeting to discuss refocusing the COVID-19 response budget. But every invited did not attend. In fact, the People's Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia has always supported the government's various performances in dealing with the pandemic and national economic recovery," he said as quoted on Wednesday, December 1.

It didn't take long for Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani to respond to the statement from the Chair of the MPR for the 2019-2024 period.

“The invitation to two meetings coincided with the President's internal meeting and the DPR meeting where the presence of the Minister of Finance is mandatory and very important. The meeting with the MPR was decided to be postponed," he said via Instagram @smindrawati today.

While alluding to the matter of budget refocusing, the state treasurer gave a straightforward response.

"Regarding the MPR budget. As is known, in 2021 Indonesia will face a surge in COVID-19 due to the Delta variant. All ministry and agency (K/L) budgets must be refocused 4 times. The aim is to help with the handling of COVID-19 (patient claims that have soared very high), accelerate vaccination, and implement PPKM in various regions," he explained.

So, what are the details of Sri Mulyani's budget refocusing in the four times?

Last August, the Minister of Finance held a virtual press conference with the Governor of Bank Indonesia Perry Warjiyo regarding the strategy to deal with the pandemic from a state financial perspective.

"Responding to 2021, we have refocused 4 times, which illustrates that we continue to sharpen our priorities," he said on Tuesday, August 24.

In detail, the Minister of Finance explained that the first phase of refocusing was carried out amounting to Rp. 59.1 trillion from K/L expenditures and Rp. 15 trillion from Transfers to Regions and Village Funds (TKDD).

"This is so that we can see all posts to be able to (overcome the budget gap) with the increase in cases in February-March and we must carry out PSBB," he said.

Then, the second stage is Rp. 12.3 trillion, which is obtained from the determination of Tukin, THR, and the 13th unpaid salary for the 2021 period.

Then the third stage is when there is a daily spike in cases due to the spread of the delta variant in the country.

"We are still facing the delta variant, then we have to do a third refocusing of IDR 26.2 trillion of K/L and TKDD spending of IDR 6 trillion," he added.

And the last is the fourth stage with a total amount of Rp. 26.3 trillion.

"After 3 times of refocusing, we are still doing the fourth refocusing, which is Rp. 26.3 trillion of K/L expenditures from the total additional budget of Rp. 55 trillion," he said.

The Minister of Finance ensured that the dismantling of this budget had received the approval of the House of Representatives (DPR) and provided its own space in building readiness to face COVID-19.

"We thank the DPR and we agree that the government is given flexibility (to do refocusing)," he said.