Airlangga Emphasizes that the State Budget Deficit Will Be Kept at 3 Percent Level

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto (Photo: VOI Doc)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, has ensured that the State Budget (APBN) deficit will be maintained at the level of 3 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Although he had previously raised the option of widening the deficit in the Cabinet Meeting, he now confirmed that the limit would not be exceeded.

This statement was made after a Limited Coordination Meeting discussing the development of economic conditions, which was held at his office on Monday, March 17.

Airlangga said that the direct order from President Prabowo Subianto was to maintain a deficit in the range of 3 percent.

For this reason, he said the government would implement budget efficiency measures to respond to the impact of the conflict between the United States and Iran on state spending.

"Following up on the direction of President Prabowo Subianto to maintain a deficit of 3 percent. On this occasion, we are also preparing steps to optimize and improve budget efficiency," he said in an official Instagram upload @airlanggahartarto_official, quoted Tuesday, March 17.

He also emphasized that there were no plans to loosen the 2026 state budget deficit limit.

"The government chose to focus on optimizing the budget through the efficiency of spending by ministries and agencies (K/L)," he said.

In addition, he added that the government has prepared various strategies to deal with global uncertainties, including the possible impact of geopolitical conflicts on the national economy.

Airlangga added that various fiscal scenarios were also being prepared as a precautionary measure if the global conflict lasted longer than expected.