Disbursed Compensation Payment To Pertamina And PLN Rp163 Trillion, APBN Bakalan With The First Deficit This Year?

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Ministry of Finance)

Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani will hold a press conference related to the realization of the 2022 State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) for the October period. Based on an internal editorial source at the Ministry of Finance, it was stated that the agenda would be held this week.

"The estimate (of the press conference) is November 24 or November 25 in the afternoon," he told VOI on Tuesday, November 22.

Just so you know, until the close of the third quarter of 2022 or until last September, the state's financial performance was still quite strong by making a surplus of IDR 60.9 trillion. The book continues its positive trend since January 2022, which at that time scored a surplus of IDR 28.9 trillion.

However, this year's steady achievement has the potential to be stopped in October because the government has to pay energy compensation costs to Pertamina and PLN.

In previous reports, it was revealed that Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani would spend around Rp. 163 trillion to settle the obligation to compensate a pair of SOEs.

The details are Rp132.1 trillion for Pertamina and Rp31.2 trillion for PLN. We are trying to get disbursed in October because all requirements have received a review (approval) from the BPK and also coordinate with three related ministers and two other ministers," he said some time ago.

It should be noted that the condition of the anomalous' state budget has been in a surplus so far cannot be separated from two things. First, windfall revenue due to rising commodity prices which made state revenues from the taxation sector increase dramatically.

Second, the process of economic recovery in the country continues to strengthen. This indication can be seen from the soaring tax levies originating from the business world sector.

For information, the Ministry of Finance said that tax revenues in the third quarter of 2022 grew 49.3 percent year on year (yoy) to Rp1,542.6 trillion. Meanwhile, the non-tax revenue sector (PNBP) posted an increase of 34.4 percent to Rp431.5 trillion.

To note, the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget from the start was indeed prepared using the assumption of a deficit. This policy is an agreement between the government and the DPR as stated in the APBN Law and has been going on for several periods.

The budget deficit strategy is intended to pursue higher growth with the risk of a budget shortage being patched through financing (debt). Thus, it is not excessive if the editors call the APBN surplus an anomaly because the initial design has determined a deficit of IDR 840.2 trillion according to Presidential Decree 98/2022.