Puan Hopes Jokowi's Last State Budget Can Really Feel The People

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Puan Maharani (Dok DPR Photo)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, hopes that the State Budget for the last year of leadership of President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi) administration will be fair to all Indonesian people.

The ratification of the 2024 State Budget Bill (RUU) into Law was held at the 6th DPR RI Plenary Meeting for Session I for the 2023-2024 Session Year at Nusantara II Building, Jakarta, Thursday 21 September. Puan was accompanied by Deputy Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives Sufmi Dasco, Rachmat Gobel, and Lodewijk F Paulus.

"Also allow us on behalf of the leadership of the Council to express our appreciation and gratitude to the leadership and members of the DPR RI Budget Agency who have completed the discussion of this bill smoothly," said Puan.

Puan also hopes that the 2024 State Budget can maintain fiscal capabilities in carrying out national development agendas, government general services, and national strategic programs. This was conveyed during a press conference session with the Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani.

"The use of the concept of a Welfare-Based Budget (wellbeing budget) in the State Budget for Fiscal Year 2024 must be a reference for every Ministry and Institution in proposing its budget for the coming fiscal year," explained Puan.

For the 2024 fiscal year, Puan reminded that all programs in ministries or institutions are directed to quality programs. That way, said Puan, the budget allocation can be felt by the beneficiary group.

"The Welfare-Based Budget must also be able to reflect the performance of the state budget with the achievement of improving people's welfare which is directly felt by the benefits," he said.

On the other hand, Puan emphasized the importance of strengthening synergy between the DPR and the Government regarding the realization of fiscal, monetary and real policies to maintain effective economic stability.

"We are the DPR and the Government together implement this APBN," said Puan.

He added that the 2024 State Budget is expected to be prioritized for priority programs of President Jokowi's Government. This is because, said Puan, 2024 is the last year of President Jokowi's leadership in 2 terms of his term of office.

"We hope and encourage that after the APBN is knocked out for 2024, the implementation is indeed a state budget that is just for the people, prioritizing priority programs from Pak Jokowi's government until the end of October 2024," explained Bung Karno's grandson.

"So that we can solve problems that have not yet been resolved according to the target. The target is because we hope that this APBN is indeed the state budget for the people and after 2 periods, in the end this latest APBN will be useful for the people," added Puan.

With the ratification of this law, the DPR and the government agreed on the 2024 State Budget where the deficit was set at IDR 522.8 trillion or 2.29% of GDP, state revenues of IDR 2,802.3 trillion, state expenditures of IDR 3,325.11 trillion, and financing of IDR 522.8 trillion.

In its report, the Chairman of the Banggar DPR RI Said Abdullah revealed that in the 2024 State Budget Law it was also agreed that economic growth targeted to reach 5.2% and Indonesian crude oil US$ 82 per barrel. This has taken into account the global situation.

"The DPR RI and the Government Budget Agency have agreed on a proposal to increase the price of crude oil from US$ 80 to US$ 82 per barrel, the Oil Lifting to 635 thousand barrels per day and the Earth Gas Lifting to 1,033 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day," said Said.

"This scenario considers the decision of a number of OPEC countries to reduce oil production due to geopolitical factors and the potential impact of China's and global economic slowdown," he added.

The 2024 State Budget Law also agreed that Ministry/Institution spending was set at IDR 1,090.8 trillion. Meanwhile, Non-K/L expenditures amounted to IDR 1,376.7 trillion, especially for pension payments which were increased by 12% to follow changes in living expenses over the last 3 years and also subsidies and compensation according to changes in oil price assumptions.

Then the amount of Transfer to Regions is set at IDR 857.6 trillion. The basic assumptions for the macroeconomics in 2024 agreed in the 2024 State Budget Law are as follows:

- Economic growth: 5.2%.- Inflation rate: 2.8%- rupiah exchange rate against US dollar: IDR 15,000- SUN flower rate-10 years: 6.7%- Indonesian crude oil price: US$ 82 per barrel- Oil lifting: 635 thousand barrels per day-Earth Gas lifting: 1,033 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day

Then here are the development targets indicators in the 2024 State Budget Law:

- Poverty Rate: 6.5-7.5%- Open unemployment rate: 5.0%-5.7%- Extreme poverty rate: 0-1%- Gini Ratio: 0.374-0.377- Human Development Index: 73.99-74.02- Farmer Exchange Rate (NTP): 105-108- Fisherman Exchange Value (NTN): 107-110