President Jokowi Orders Ministries / Institutions To Focus On Handling Corona Virus

President Jokowi initiated his introduction at the Plenary Cabinet Session on Anticipating the Impact of the Global Economy at the Bogor Presidential Palace, Tuesday, February 11.

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) conveyed to all ministries / agencies to anticipate the still developing issues regarding the corona virus which could potentially affect the world economy, China, and also in the Asian region including Indonesia.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Finance (Menkeu), Sri Mulyani, when giving a press statement after the Plenary Cabinet Session (SKP) on Anticipating the Impact of the Global Economy at the Bogor Presidential Palace, West Java Province, Tuesday, February 11.

"The difference between the situation at the time of SARS and the conditions due to the corona virus in the Chinese economy itself, which is currently the size of the Chinese economy is much larger," said the Minister.

If the Chinese economy is significantly affected by the corona virus, continued the Minister of Finance, then the effect will not only be within China itself but also to the Asian and global regions.

To that end, President Jokowi asked ministries / agencies to take several steps in order to protect the Indonesian economy and continue to encourage economic growth to maintain its momentum.

"Although we understand that several sectors have been affected. From the tourism side, in this case we see a decline and also from the industrial sector and commodity prices, "added the Minister of Finance.

All ministries / agencies, according to the Minister of Finance, are asked to really accelerate the spending of ministries / institutions, including using ministerial / institutional spending to support tourism.

According to the Minister of Finance, he had reported in the cabinet regarding the position of budget disbursement up to February 10, 2020. Various ministerial / institutional expenditures, added the Minister of Finance, other than personnel expenditures which are usually in the form of salaries and allowances, namely goods and capital expenditures have increased, but still can be driven even faster.

"This includes the PUPR Ministry, which has already spent quite a lot in February in the form of capital expenditures. That is a good indication, "said Sri Mulyani.

The Ministry of Finance, according to him, also asked all ministries / agencies to speed up spending, especially those that can be executed quickly and directly affect the community, including Village Fund spending.

"As of the 10th, there have been more than Rp. 586 billion in Village Funds that we have disbursed for more than 1,490 villages," he continued.

This, according to the Minister of Finance, is higher than last year in February where the disbursement was only Rp317 billion. As yesterday also conveyed, continued the Minister of Finance, he together with the Minister of Education and the Village Minister will make direct disbursements to school accounts for school operating costs and for villages directly to village accounts.

"What the goal is, so that all government budgets that are already in the APBN can be immediately felt by the community and the benefits of it so that it can boost the economy in Indonesia," added Sri Mulyani.

On that occasion, the Minister of Finance also conveyed how many budget positions that had been disbursed for PKH reached Rp. 7 trillion from the ceiling of Rp. 29 trillion. Furthermore, the Minister of Finance said that for some spending from ministries / agencies at this time as of January 31, 30.9 trillion had been disbursed.

"For goods expenditure of Rp. 3.3 trillion, capital expenditure of Rp. 1.9 trillion, expenditure of social assistance of Rp. 13.2 trillion, and expenditure of employees of Rp. 12.5 trillion." These are all expenditures that can be accelerated in order to encourage, "explained the Minister.

President Jokowi, according to the Minister of Finance, also conveyed several things that might be studied. "First, of course, can the activities in the tourism center have decreased quite significantly because of the corona virus? So later this is more about the allocation of expenditures that can be spent there, "he added.

Second, studies on various incentives or subsidies for flights, especially for domestic, local / domestic tourists in order to continue to increase public spending to support the tourism sector.

The Minister of Finance said that the policy was the result of coordination between the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment in order to boost the economy.