COVID-19 Vaccination Makes State Expenditures Up To IDR 282.7 Trillion In February 2021

Illustrated. (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani emphasized that state spending until the close of February 2021 reached IDR 282.7 trillion, an increase of 1.2 percent from last year's realization.

"This total expenditure is 10.3 percent of the total state expenditure allocated for 2021, which amounts to IDR 2.750 trillion", she said in a virtual press conference, Tuesday, March 23.

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani added that the highest growth occurred in ministerial spending with an increase of 15.8 percent which was driven by an increase in goods and capital spending, including the implementation of vaccinations.

"Meanwhile, non-ministerial and institutional spending grew by 6.1 percent which was driven by the realization of energy subsidies", she said.

Meanwhile, transfers to regions and village funds are said to have increased by 12.4 percent with a realization of IDR 103 trillion.

"What is interesting is the realized capital expenditure of IDR 22.8 trillion, much higher than last year's IDR 6.5 trillion", she added.

The Minister of Finance further explained that the initial capital expenditure this year is a continuation of last year's refocusing and is now being implemented in 2021. This is intended to maintain the momentum of capital spending but not threaten the state budget.

"This has an impact on good adjustments at the beginning of the year, so as not to ruin various government projects. So it keeps going and not stalling, let alone slowing down", she said.

Another side that concerns Sri Mulyani is the decline in social spending in the first two months of this year with a realization of IDR 26.8 trillion or less than the same period last year of IDR 31.9 trillion.

"This is what we need to pay attention to, to increase the acceleration speed so that it can be increased in March", she said.