Prabowo's Fat Cabinet Is Predicted For The Swelling State Budget Of IDR 1.95 Trillion

Elected President Prabowo Subianto (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA In preparation to form a new government cabinet, President-elect Prabowo Subianto has summoned a number of ministerial candidates, deputy ministers, and heads of agencies to fill strategic positions in the upcoming government.

Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios) researcher, Galau D. Muhammad said that this division of positions not only caused moral disappointment, but also had the potential to create significant budget waste.

"The more deputy ministers appointed it means it will increase state spending, including salaries for supporting staff, procurement of official cars, office facilities, to payment of pension salaries for the minister and deputy minister," he said in his statement, Thursday, October 17.

According to him, all of these responsibilities exacerbate fiscal vulnerabilities due to debt maturity and lower tax revenues.

Celios' analysis shows the potential for a budget overrun of up to IDR 1.95 trillion over the next 5 years due to the fat coalition. This figure does not include the burden of spending on goods arising from the construction of new institutional office facilities/building facilities.

Celios researcher Achmad Hanif Imaduddin said that the losses faced by the state due to this phenomenon were not only limited to fiscal waste but also widening the number of inequality.

"Although the minister's salary is relatively small compared to other positions, this position can have a broad economic impact, such as an increase in the value of the company's shares owned by the minister which can be seen as a benefit of access to power," he explained.

Hanif assessed that this phenomenon could create new inequality in society because these officials benefited double from their power position.

Referring to the estimated calculation of Celios, his party assumes the amount of salary and allowances for ministers is IDR 150 million per month, while for deputy ministers it is worth IDR 100 million per month. Meanwhile, the operational budget for ministers and deputy ministers is worth IDR 500 million.

Meanwhile, with an estimated number of ministers in Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming's cabinet, which reached 49 ministers and 59 deputy ministers, it means that the total estimated costs incurred are IDR 777 billion.

Meanwhile, the Jokowi and Ma'ruf Amin governments have 34 ministers and 17 deputy ministers, meaning that the total estimated costs incurred are IDR 387.6 billion per year.

Therefore, there is an increase in the budget of IDR 389.4 billion per year from the salary allocation in the Jokowi era, to the Prabowo era. So that for the next five years the state's budget will be IDR 1.95 trillion.

Celios emphasized that this estimate is a simple calculation by estimating the amount of the position budget does not include the cost of building new building facilities. A more precise figure can be calculated in more detail after the formation of a new Ministry. But at least this figure illustrates the potential for budget swelling that has the potential to increase the state budget.