Ministry Of Finance: Indonesia's Fiscal Deficit And Debt Ratio Are Among The Best In The World

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Director General of Financing and Risk Management at the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) Suminto said that Indonesia's fiscal deficit and debt ratio are in the relatively good group in the world.

"During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2022, the performance of Indonesia's State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) was quite good where the budget deficit could be controlled," said Suminto at the Hearing Meeting (RDP) Commission XI of the House of Representatives (DPR), as quoted from Antara, Wednesday 8 February.

After a deficit of 6.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020, in 2022 the state treasury deficit will drop significantly to 2.38 percent of GDP or much lower than many other countries.

He gave an example of China's state budget deficit which is still at the level of 7.4 percent of GDP in 2022 from 8.6 percent of GDP in 2020, India which is still at the level of 8.5 percent of GDP from 9.5 percent of GDP, Malaysia at 4.1 percent GDP of 6.2 percent of GDP, the Philippines at 5.4 percent of GDP of 7.6 percent of GDP, and Thailand at 4.9 percent of GDP of 6.1 percent of GDP.

Likewise, developed countries such as the United States (US) just fell to a deficit of 5.8 percent of GDP from 15 percent of GDP, Germany at 2.6 percent of GDP from 4.3 percent of GDP, France at 4.5 percent of GDP from 8.9 percent of GDP, Italy at 5.7 percent of GDP of 9.6 percent of GDP, Japan at 7.3 percent of GDP of 9.3 percent of GDP, the United Kingdom at 4.3 percent of GDP of 15 percent of GDP, and Canada at 2.7 percent GDP, of 14.9 percent of GDP.

With the relatively good performance of the State Budget, Suminto said Indonesia's debt-to-GDP ratio was still quite good compared to many other countries. Meanwhile, Indonesia's debt-to-GDP ratio is recorded at 39.57 percent in 2022.

This figure is quite low compared to China which amounted to 76.89 percent, India 83.4 percent, Malaysia 69.56 percent, Thailand 61.45 percent, Philippines 59.27 percent, Brazil 88.9 percent, and South Africa 67.99 percent.

Likewise, when compared to many developed countries such as the US 122 percent, Germany 71.11 percent, France 111.83 percent, England 86.99 percent, Japan 263.92 percent, and South Korea 54.08 percent.