Sri Mulyani Regrets TKDD Funds Remaining IDR 10 Trillion: Though It Can Move The Economy In The Regions

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani again highlighted the regional financial performance which is summarized in the 2021 Regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBD). According to him, the performance of the APBD throughout last year was not fully optimal, especially in terms of spending.

In fact, the budget allocation disbursed by the central government to regional governments (Pemda) is quite large. This can be seen from transfers to regions and village funds (TKDD) for the 2021 fiscal year period which reached IDR 795.5 trillion.

Just so you know, the TKDD ceiling is recorded at around 30 percent of the total state expenditure in the 2021 APBN.

Meanwhile, the realization of TKDD absorption until the closing of the last book was Rp. 785.7 trillion or 98.8% of the target. This means that around Rp10 trillion of funds are not used by the regions and have to be transferred back to the state treasury.

"There is still Rp10 trillion until the end of the year that has not been spent. This is a large number that can drive the regional economy. This may need our attention," said the Minister of Finance in a press statement today, Tuesday, January 11.

For this reason, the state treasurer encourages the active role of local governments so that TKDD can become a powerful instrument in leveraging the regional economy. This method is called by the Minister of Finance, which is similar to the position of the State Budget which is the driving force of the national economy.

"I still see that my friends in the APBD area are not 100 percent optimal and there is a synergy with the APBN. So when the state budget wants to boost the economy, many of the budgets actually put the brakes on it. So when President Jokowi wants to act, the regional government puts the brakes on it. This is what makes it not as fast as we want," he said.

The Minister of Finance hopes that local governments anticipate various problems in the management of the APBD so that TKDD can be optimized to support the handling of COVID-19 and Indonesia's economic recovery.