The National Education Fund Is Used To Build IKN, What Are The Details For This Year?

Garuda Sharpening Palace Design (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA – The government's plan to put the State Capital Development Budget (IKN) into the 2022 National Economic Recovery (PEN) scheme invites various reactions.

Most recently, Member of the House of Representatives Commission XI from the Democratic Faction, Marwan Cik Asan, reminded the government that the PEN fund is actually intended to overcome the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and not for IKN development purposes.

"I remind you that Perpu Number 1 of 2019 which becomes Law Number 2 of 2022, Article 11, very clearly states that the PEN program is intended to protect, maintain, and improve the economic capacity of business actors from the real sector, the financial sector in running their business. ," he said during a working meeting with Finance Minister Sri Mulyani on Wednesday, January 19 at the Senayan Parliament Complex, Jakarta.

"So we should not fall into the violation of the laws and regulations that we have made," continued Marwan.

So, what exactly is the basic design designed by the government to carry out the country's strategic program as stated in the 2022 PEN?

Citing information shared by the Ministry of Finance, it is stated that the 2022 PEN budget amounts to Rp455.62 trillion. This figure is spread to three main clusters, namely health of Rp. 122.5 trillion, social protection (perlinsos) of Rp. 154.8 trillion, and the economic strengthening cluster of Rp. 178.3 trillion.

In detail, the health cluster will focus on accelerating and expanding vaccination and continuing to handle the pandemic. It is also known that the allocation of funds will be channeled to increase readiness in dealing with the Omicron variant and to encourage the independence of the pharmaceutical industry. In addition, the government will also encourage the creation of a better health insurance system, especially regarding claims for COVID-19 patients.

Meanwhile for the social welfare cluster, the focus will be on maintaining the consumption of the poor and vulnerable as well as handling extreme poverty. Meanwhile, its implementation in the field is through the continuation of the PKH program, basic food assistance, Pre-Employment Cards, Village BLT, job loss guarantees, and anticipation of the expansion of social security.

Then, the economic strengthening cluster is targeted to support job creation through programs in ministries/agencies and local governments. Furthermore, supporting MSMEs, tax incentives for sectors that have not yet recovered, and accelerating the completion of infrastructure development.

Now, in this third cluster, the government hopes that the allocation of funds that have been provided can also be maximized to build IKN, as stated by Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani after following the agenda for the ratification of the State Capital Law yesterday.

"So we will design this (IKN development budget) later for 2022, because as is known in 2022 there will be a package for economic recovery (PEN) of IDR 450 trillion, which has not yet been fully specified. So later this might be included as part of the economic recovery program as well as the momentum for IKN development," said the Minister of Finance.