Sri Mulyani: Digitalization Is Impossible Without Infrastructure Development

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani (Photo: Doc. BI)

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani, said that the State Budget is an important tool in encouraging economic transformation and digitization. According to her, state financial instruments play at least three main roles.

First, the State Budget (APBN) supports digitalization from the people aspect. The second is the digitalization of the economy itself. And the third is digitalization which is also carried out by the government.

“We at the Ministry of Finance play a very important role. Digitalization can't occur without us building the infrastructure", she said at the G20 side event titled 2022 Indonesia Digital Financial Economy Festival in Bali at the Minister of Communication and Information on Monday, July 11.

According to the Minister of Finance, evidence of government support for digitalization is reflected in the expenditure allocation of the Ministry of Communication and Information which has continued to increase in the last three years.

"During the pandemic where all ministries and budget agencies were refocused, the ones that were not cut belonged to Mr. Johnny Plate (Minister of Communication and Information) and the Ministry of Health. In fact, the Ministry of Communications is not cutting it but increasing it, from 2020 to 2022 the budget continues to increase", she said.

The Minister of Finance added that this step is the government's commitment to building national digital infrastructure.

“Imagine, we have 84,000 villages/dub-district, 250,000 schools, 10,000 public health centers (Puskesmas), and these are not all connected. So if we want the government to people communication, then we have to go there (digitalization)", she said.

Citing the realization of the APBN in the first semester of 2022, it is known that the budget absorption of the Ministry of Communication and Information has reached Rp.

During the first half, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics focused on the construction of BTS/Lastmile, providing internet access, utilization of the Palapa Ring, construction of a national data center in 2 locations, and fostering active Digital Startups, and digital literacy.

In addition, the Ministry of Communication and Information also supports the development of the digital economy by facilitating the adoption of digital technology, especially for the strategic sector, MSMEs, and digital startups as well as providing digital broadcasting infrastructure support.