Airlangga Said There Would Be An Increase In ASN Salaries In The Prabowo-Gibran Government

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs (Menko) Airlangga Hartarto. (Photo: Aris Nurjani/VOI)

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said President and Vice President-elect Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka plans to increase the salaries of state civil servants (ASN) by 2025.

"Yes (plan to increase), it is adjusted. If it is adjusted to the above," he told the media crew, Friday, July 19.

Airlangga said that he could not provide more details regarding the amount of the salary increase.

"There is no (percentage for increasing civil servant salaries), next year," he said. For information, the plan to increase the salaries of Civil Servants (PNS) is contained in the Macroeconomic Framework and the Principles of Fiscal Policy (KEM PPKF) 2025 which became the basis before the 2025 State Revenue and Expenditure Budget Draft (RAPBN) was proposed.

Meanwhile, the direction of regional fiscal policy in 2025 is to fulfill employee spending as follows. First, restructuring employee spending which includes only salaries and attached allowances, regional performance allowances, and pension contributions and JKN.

Second, saving the components of personnel spending by adjusting employment policies, among others, through the preparation of civil servant formations based on the analysis of positions and/or analysis of employee needs, implementing a policy of gradually reducing the number of employees (minus growth), and implementing employee transfer policies between regions.

In general, the policy of spending on employees in 2025, the government consistently continues the bureaucratic reform process towards adapting new work patterns that utilize Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to encourage productivity.

The direction of the 2025 employee spending policy will be focused, among others, to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the bureaucracy as the key to the success of fiscal reforms through strengthening the implementation of ASN management, digitizing public bureaucracy and services, and adapting flexible working arrangements.

Furthermore, improving the quality of personnel spending while maintaining the consumption of state officials, among others, through the provision of THR and 13th salary/retirement and adjustment of ASN salaries, reforming the pension guarantee system and guaranteeing old-age civil servants (PNS) and completing the implementation of bureaucratic reform as a whole to realize a more quality, professional, and integrity public bureaucracy and services.

The employee spending policy will also take into account the needs of new employees by implementing a zero growth policy for non-education and non-health workers as well as encouraging equitable distribution of education and health personnel.

Employee spending is influenced by the development of policies and challenges related to bureaucratic reform as well as management and management of ASN.

The salary and pension reform of ASN is still one of the agendas that need to be completed. ASN pension reform has the potential to cause an increase in personnel spending in the short term.

In addition, there are still challenges related to public services, including the lack of optimal professionalism of ASN and there are still overlapping tasks and functions between central government institutions.

Another challenge is the need to improve the quality of public service satisfaction and transparency.

In the document, it is explained how employee spending during the 2019'2023 period always increases with an average growth of 3.6 percent.

Meanwhile, personnel spending in 2019 amounted to IDR 376.1 trillion, in 2020 to IDR 380.6 trillion, 2021 IDR 387.7 trillion, 2022 IDR 402.6, 2023 IDR 412.7 trillion, and 2024 IDR 484.4 trillion.

These improvements include being influenced by various policies directed at improving the welfare of ASN, such as salary increases and basic pensions, providing 13th salary and THR for ASN and retirees, as well as improving performance allowances for K/L in line with the achievement of reformary.

The largest employee expenditure components are salaries and allowances while the highest growing expenditure components are honorarium spending, overtime, and special allowances.

"For 2024, the allocation of personnel expenditures will reach IDR 484.4 trillion or around 2.1 percent of GDP makes employee spending one of the highest components of BPP," wrote the document.