Deputy Minister Of Finance Suahasil Nazara Wants Fiscal Policy Not Just About The State Budget

Deputy Minister of Finance Suahasil Nazara (Photo: screenshot of the Ministry of Finance Youtube)

JAKARTA - Deputy Minister of Finance (Wamenkeu) Suahasil Nazara said that the paradigm of fiscal policy that always refers to the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) is considered less relevant at this time. The reason is, in a pandemic, the APBN has a very important role in dealing with various things.

“Our problems are getting more complicated, the state finances that we understood in the past are getting more dimensions today. I believe it is impossible for us to analyze state finances without starting to think about the health side,” he said in a webinar, Monday, August 30.

According to Suahasil, the preparation of the APBN in the previous period tended not to focus too much on handling the health sector. However, at this time health is the main key in the dynamics of the APBN.

“Five years ago we never thought that way, we thought that health would still be developed but not something that would affect state finances. But now look, the dynamics have all changed," he said.

Suahasil added, therefore, it is necessary to understand that the fiscal instrument is a policy with a fairly broad scope at this time.

“We have to start thinking about fiscal policies that are beyond the state budget. Fiscal policy is not just a budget, because in a pandemic situation, fiscal policy is what takes care of this republic. He (APBN) takes care of finances, he takes care of banking, the business world, provides incentives, to manage local governments with their APBD, "he explained.

For information, in a pandemic situation, the government specifically allocates the National Economic Recovery (PEN) budget in the APBN to overcome the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

This year, the PEN budget increased from the previous Rp699 trillion to Rp744 trillion in response to the delta variant spread. PEN funds are distributed into five strategic sectors, namely health, social protection (perlinsos), priority programs, business support, and business incentives.

As of August 20, 2021, PEN funds have been absorbed in the amount of Rp. 326.7 trillion, equivalent to 43.9 percent of the budget ceiling.

"Fiscal policy used to be identified with the budget reflected in the APBN and APBD, now fiscal policy has footprints everywhere in the current pandemic situation," concluded Deputy Minister of Finance Suahasil Nazara.