According To Jokowi , This Is The Reason For The Slow Economic Recovery: Realization Of The Expenditure Budget Has Not Met Expectations

President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo. (Photo: Doc. Of the Presidential Secretariat)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) revealed that the speed of ministries and institutions as well as local governments in realizing the budget is still not up to expectations. According to him, this will have an impact on the slow process of economic recovery from the pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Until the end of the first quarter of 2021, said Jokowi, the realization of government spending was still low, namely around 15 percent for the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) and for the average regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBD) less than 7 percent.

Meanwhile, Jokowi continued, the absorption of National Economic Recovery Program (PEN) spending also experienced the same conditions as the APBN and APBD. Where only 10.19 percent of the budget ceiling of IDR 699.46 trillion.

"The acceleration of the execution of the procurement of goods and services (PBJ) which is expected to occur in the first quarter has also not materialized. In the first quarter, only 10.98 percent realized PBJ for ministries and institutions and less than 5 percent for local governments", he said in 2021 National Coordination Meeting of Internal Control, Thursday, 27 May.

To that end, Jokowi asked the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) and the Government Internal Supervisory Apparatus (APIP) to immediately investigate the causes of the slow realization of the budget provided by the government.

Not only that but the former Governor of DKI Jakarta also asked for the budget to be issued on target and maximized to move the wheels of the economy.

Jokowi also highlighted another problem, namely the quality of planning and budgeting. According to him, several programs or activities were deemed not to have clear indicators of success. In fact, it does not support the achievement of goals and is out of sync with other programs.

"There is still a gap between the direction of central development and the direction of regional development. The inconsistency in the direction of development causes the leverage of the programs or activities carried out to be not optimal", he said.

Therefore, Jokowi instructed BPKP and APIP to oversee government programs starting from the upstream. He asked that the entire planning and budgeting process be sure to run well and in accordance with the provisions.

"Make sure the planning and budgeting process is carried out well, not just repeating the previous years' planning. Keep on guarding programs or activities that are designed to have clear goals and measures of success", he said.