Sri Mulyani Concerning Public Debt Management: It's Good, I'm Also Very Happy Now People Care About State Budget

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani. (Photo: Doc. Ministry of Finance)

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani said she was happy because the public is currently very concerned about the state's financial condition. According to him, the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) always maintains transparency of state finances through regular publications every month.

"Now everyone is taking care of debt, everyone is talking about it. So it's good if the community has ownership of state finances," said the Minister of Finance in the event Interpreting Crisis: Launching 25 Years of Cash Book; Crossing 3 Multidimensional Crisis, quoted Monday, October 25.

This former World Bank Managing Director said, to maintain accountability and transparency of state finances, the government has reported it in the State Budget (APBN) every month to the mass media and the public.

"Today, many people look at state finances in very, very detail, I am very happy. If in 1997-1998 no one saw the APBN, it was considered to be taken for granted. In 2008-2009, no one saw the APBN," Sri Mulyani said.

Furthermore, said the Minister of Finance, the public's concern regarding the state budget, including debt, reflects that the community both feel they have state finances which are instruments for state administration. Which in the end will be returned to the needs of the community.

Sri Mulyani said that the current surge in debt did not just happen. Debt conditions have been exacerbated since decades ago, and got worse during the 1997-1998 monetary crisis.

The Minister of Finance said that the monetary crisis affected companies and banks, which at that time borrowed a lot of US dollars abroad. This includes government bonds.

This is a burden for Indonesia because the rupiah exchange rate continues to be corrected from Rp. 2,500 per US dollar to around Rp. 17,000 per US dollar.

In order to maintain economic sustainability, apart from being charged with a surge in government debt, at that time the government was also trying to provide incentives so that more companies would not fail.

"When there was a crisis in 1997-1998 with the bail out, that's why our debt (the state) is very high because of bonds. So in the end it is the burden of the state," said Sri Mulyani.