JAKARTA - Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani highlighted the low spending on social protection or social assistance (bansos) by local governments of only Rp. 11 trillion per year.
This condition is very different compared to the central government's social and social expenditures, which in the last three years have always been above Rp.
"This illustrates the concept of transfers to regions with the aim of protecting their people, but it turns out that perhaps the budget of some regions for what is really titled protecting the people is still dominated by the center," Sri Mulyani said as quoted by Antara, Tuesday, June 7.
In 2019, the central government's social protection expenditure reached Rp. 308.4 trillion, then in 2020 it reached Rp. 498 trillion, in 2021 it was Rp. 469.4 trillion, in 2022 it was allocated Rp. 431.5 trillion, and even in 2023 it is assumed to be worth Rp. 432.2 trillion to IDR 441.3 trillion.
Not only social welfare spending, he continued, health spending is also still dominated by the central government, especially during the pandemic, in particular spending on vaccinations, treatment financing, and doctor incentives.
Meanwhile, for education spending, which is also one of the priority expenditures, the central government sometimes still regulates teacher salaries and so on.
"Shopping is indeed the goal to build the Indonesian economy and society for a better quality, both in education, health, social security and in terms of infrastructure including basic infrastructure such as clean water, irrigation, roads and even telecommunications," he said.
Sri Mulyani assessed that the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) had succeeded in being a shock absorber or an extraordinary shock absorber when COVID-19 hit, so it is hoped that the Regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBD) can also follow the example.
This is because the people in Indonesia should be protected by the local government as well, not only the central government.
"This is only to illustrate that the APBN that works at the center is actually the region and the people who enjoy it," he stressed
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