Sri Mulyani Stresses That He Will Continue Refocusing The State Budget: In Accordance With The Principles Of Maqasid As-Syariah, The Welfare Of The Ummah Is A Priority

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani. (Photo: Screenshot of MUI Youtube)

JAKARTA - The government through the Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani will continue to take strategic steps in managing state finances in accordance with the dynamics that occur in the field, especially in the midst of the current COVID-19 pandemic situation.

According to the Minister of Finance, the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) is the foremost instrument that is believed to be able to manage the impact of the pandemic in the country. To that end, readjustment of the priority scale of state spending (refocusing) is the key in dealing with continuing uncertainty.

"That is how important the State Budget is as an instrument in dealing with the current COVID-19 disaster. The government will continue to use the state budget, including focusing or refocusing at a time when we are facing extraordinary dynamics such as COVID-19," he said when speaking at the 2021 Sharia Supervisory Board Ijtima' Sanawi forum which was broadcast virtually, Thursday, December 2.

For example, the Minister of Finance explained the government's efforts to optimize state finances when there was an increase in cases in the middle of this year.

"So when there is a variant delta, we will refocus the state budget. Many expenditures must be channeled or re-programmed to give priority to the health sector, to the small and medium business sector, and to assisting the community in the form of social assistance (bansos)," he said.

The Minister of Finance added that what the government did was considered to be in accordance with Islamic values, namely Maqasid As-Syariah which means goodness for all people.

"This is what we call Maqasid As-Syariah or the purpose of sharia, namely how we are always able to prioritize priorities based on the order of the benefit of the people. If the benefit of the people is threatened, then we must use instruments and policies to prioritize them again. That is what we call the essence of the Maqasid As-Shariah principles," he stressed.

Previously, the state treasurer had explained that the government had recorded four refocusing of the state budget. The first phase was carried out in the amount of Rp. 59.1 trillion from K/L spending and Rp. 15 trillion from Transfers to Regions and Village Funds (TKDD) as a follow-up to the increase in COVID-19 cases after Nataru's momentum at the beginning of the year.

The second stage, amounting to Rp. 12.3 trillion, which was obtained from the determination of Tukin, THR, and the 13th unpaid salary for the 2021 period. Then the third stage was when there was a spike in pandemic cases due to the spread of the delta variant in the country in the middle of the year with a value of Rp. IDR 26.2 trillion of K/L and TKDD spending of IDR 6 trillion.

And the last is the fourth stage with an amount of Rp. 26.3 trillion from K/L expenditures and a total additional budget of Rp. 55 trillion.

Just so you know, the issue of refocusing the state budget arose after the Chairman of the MPR RI Bambang Soesatyo (Bamsoet) earlier this week questioned the government's policies related to the steps to dismantle the APBN.