The Budget Of The Ministry Of Pangkas, Minister Of Trade Budi Ngaku Is Not A Problem

Minister of Trade Budi Santoso (Photo: Mery Handayani/VOI)

JAKARTA - The Minister of Trade (Mendag) Budi Santoso opened his voice regarding the budget cuts of the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag). He said the budget cut was not much different from other ministries.

"(The budget cut) is not much different from other ministries," he said when met at the Ministry of Trade Office, Jakarta, Wednesday, February 5.

Budi also denied that the budget for office operational costs such as electricity and water was also reduced.

"We don't, we don't have a problem. From the start, our electricity has also been efficient. There is no problem. Just look up and down the elevator (still) can," he said.

Regarding the efficiency of this budget, Budi also said that his party had not implemented a work from home (WFH) policy or work from home or work from anywhere (WFA) or work from anywhere.

"Not yet, we don't have (the policy) yet," said Budi.

Budi also admitted that he was ready to optimize the budget obtained by the Ministry of Trade. Even so, there were cuts in several shopping posts.

"So in principle, we can optimize existing programs. Yes, so there is no problem. We support government programs. We support the President's program," he explained.

Currently, said Budi, his party is also reviewing programs from the ministry that need to be prioritized. Even so, he ensured that the three main programs at the Ministry of Trade remained running.

"Yes, there will be optimization later, we are currently exercise, which one we prioritize. Because we have the three programs, yes, the security of the domestic market, the expansion of the export market, MSMEs can be exported. We focus on the three," he said.

In addition, he said, the national export target of IDR 7.1 trillion will not change even though there is a budget cut for his ministry.

The target remains IDR 7.1 trillion. Nothing has changed. We just optimize the budget, we can, yes, we have to work hard," he explained.

For your information, previously the Ministry of Finance had issued a letter numbered S-37/MK.02/2025 which ordered ministries/agencies to make efficiency in shopping posts.

The letter is a follow-up to the Presidential Instruction of the Republic of Indonesia Number 1 of 2025 concerning the Efficiency of Expenditures in the Implementation of the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget and the Regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget for Fiscal Year 2025.

Where in the Presidential Instruction, President Prabowo Subianto cut the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) and the Regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBD) for the 2025 fiscal year amounting to IDR 306.69 trillion.