The Government Still Has A Subsidy Debt Of Nearly IDR 1 Trillion To Pupuk Indonesia

President Director of PT Pupuk Indonesia (Persero) Rahmad Pribadi. (Photo: Mery Handayani/VOI)

JAKARTA - President Director of PT Pupuk Indonesia (Persero) Rahmad Pribadi revealed that the government still has a fertilizer subsidy debt of almost IDR 1 trillion.

The debt is the remaining bill from 2020 and 2022.

Furthermore, Rahmad said, the government had paid a subsidy debt of Rp. 16.6 trillion on December 28 last year. The payment closed most of the government's debt to Pupuk Indonesia.

"So almost all of the underpayment bills for this fertilizer subsidy have been paid. (But) there are still around Rp. 1 trillion left over from the 2020 and 2022 bills," said Rahmad in a media gathering at the Alila SCBD Hotel Jakarta, Monday, March 18.

Rahmad believes that the remaining bills will be paid by the government soon.

Currently, he said, there are several administrative problems that are being processed for the payment of the remaining subsidized fertilizer bills.

"We are never worried about the government's ability or willingness to pay. Because the government will definitely pay less. So usually it is delayed more to administrative problems," he explained.

Although there was a lack of pay, the government decided to increase the allocation of subsidized fertilizers this year to 9.55 million tons from the initial plan of 4.7 million tons.

This addition made the subsidized fertilizer budget increase to IDR 54 trillion from the previous IDR 26.6 trillion.

Rahmad said the additional budget to meet the allocation of subsidized fertilizers this year, which is 9.55 million tons, is being processed at the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu).

"This addition is being processed at the Ministry of Finance, it is not easy because there is an additional budget, we are taking care of it," he said.