Sri Mulyani Grabs Governor Khofifah: East Java Budget Piles Up In Banks Of Rp24 Trillion, Asks For Accelerated Spending

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani on Monday, March 28 met the media crew virtually to explain the realization of the use of the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) for the period until February 2022.

On that occasion, the Minister of Finance said that the regional government (Pemda) of East Java recorded the highest funds deposited in banks compared to other regions in Indonesia.

"As of February 2022, the highest nominal balance is in the East Java region of Rp. 24.48 trillion," he said.

Meanwhile, the lowest balance, continued the Minister of Finance, was in West Sulawesi with IDR 1.06 trillion. For this reason, the state treasurer encourages all local governments, including East Java, led by Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa, to be able to accelerate budget absorption in order to have a positive effect on the regional economy.

"We hope that all will continue to spur state spending, including handling the pandemic and economic recovery," he said.

Meanwhile, the overall value of regional government deposits in banks in February 2022 was IDR 183.32 trillion. This figure increased by 25.35 trillion or 16.05 percent from the position in February 2021 which amounted to Rp. 163.95 trillion.

To note, in the first two months of this year the central government has disbursed a total budget of Rp110.49 trillion to all local governments in the form of Transfers to Regions and Village Funds (TKDD). This number grew 7.1 percent compared to the same period in 2021 of Rp103.19 trillion.