Minister of Home Affairs: Regions Must Perform Efficiency Before Receiving Additional TKD

Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) Tito Karnavian/ANTARA

JAKARTA - Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) Tito Karnavian emphasized that the government would take a series of steps before providing additional Transfer to the Region (TKD) for local governments that are having difficulty paying employee expenses.

He said the Ministry of Home Affairs had identified 79 areas that potentially needed additional funds. However, he emphasized that the government would not immediately approve additional funds without first evaluating the financial conditions of each area.

"We will send a team, whether it has been efficient. Efficiency first," said Tito, quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, August 5.

According to him, the first step taken is to ask the local government to carry out budget efficiency, especially by cutting spending that is considered not a priority such as official travel, meetings, or other operational costs.

Tito gave an example of the Ministry of Home Affairs evaluating one of the regions in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) which claimed to have difficulty paying employee salaries, it was found that there were still many inefficient expenditures.

After the savings were made, the regional budget was considered sufficient to meet the obligation to pay salaries.

He also appreciated the steps of the Lahat Regency Government, South Sumatra, which was the first to carry out efficiency in operational support spending to save around Rp400 billion.

"I ask you to do that (efficiency) first, don't know it, just ask for additional DAU (General Allocation Fund) directly. Do the efficiency first and we will send a team down," he said.

The second step, continued Tito, the government will check whether the area still has the right to the Revenue Sharing Fund (DBH) which has not been disbursed by the Ministry of Finance.

If there are still, the Ministry of Home Affairs will coordinate with the Ministry of Finance so that the funds can be immediately paid so that they can be used to finance employee expenses.

However, if after efficiency is carried out and the distribution of DBH still does not meet the needs of employee spending, the government will only consider providing a top up of TKD from the Ministry of Finance.

Tito estimated that there were around 79 areas that fell into this category.

He explained that the figure was different from the data of the Minister of Finance which stated that there were around 490 areas. According to Tito, the figure of 490 areas refers to areas that still have DBH that have not been paid, not areas that have difficulty paying employee expenses.

"490 is the one whose DBH has not been paid. So it's not the one who can't pay, who can't pay for our employee spending, we see at least 79 (districts)," said Tito.

Regarding the budget needs, Tito said that the additional funds to cover employee spending in 79 regions are estimated to reach around Rp3.5 trillion to Rp3.7 trillion.

Meanwhile, if it includes other fiscal needs, the additional value of the transfer is estimated to be close to Rp. 14 trillion.