Sri Mulyani Annoyed That Local Government Made 'Diecer-Retail' Program Up To 300,000 Activities: It Doesn't Feel, What Enjoys Even Bureaucrats

JAKARTA – The Minister of Finance expressed her frustration with the many work programs that exist in the regional government. In fact, he noted that the total number of programs at the provincial, district, and city levels reached hundreds of thousands of activities.

“We want to arrange that there are not many program areas, not retail. That's a lot, it can reach 300,000 programs", she said through an online channel while attending the socialization of the Law on Central and Regional Financial Relations (HKPD) in Riau, Friday, March 25.

According to the Minister of Finance, an agenda that is too busy will certainly reduce the beneficial effect significantly for the community.

"The program is small, only how much is given (that's the community), so if it's longer, the droplets won't be felt. In the end, it will be in the administration costs, so that those who enjoy the bureaucracy are not the recipients of the program", she said.

For this reason, through the presence of the belied HKPD which is owed in Law Number 1 of 2022, the central government is more specific about the use of money transferred to the regions without reducing the authority of each regional government.

"This is what we will try to make the basis for more integrated spending, simpler program, more consolidated, and of course transparent, especially to the public. Later, the focus of spending is expected to be on minimal public services, such as education, health, and other basic services", explained the Minister of Finance.

For information, the government has set five main focuses in the regulation and management of regional expenditures. First, focus on spending on basic social services. Second, mandatory spending means the obligation to use the budget by the minimum legal limits in the health and education sectors.

Third, controlling personnel expenditure with a maximum provision of 30 percent of the Regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBD). Fourth, strengthening infrastructure spending at least 40 percent of the APBD. And the fifth is the non-earmarked SiLPA (Remaining Budget Calculation) for regional spending based on the performance of services provided to the public.

Meanwhile, the total budget disbursed by the central government to local governments this year reached IDR 769.6 trillion in the form of Transfers to Regions and Village Funds (TKDD).

This figure represents 28.35 percent of the total state expenditures listed in the 2022 State Budget with IDR 2,714.2 trillion.