JAKARTA - Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani shared experiences related to state financial management in the early days of handling the COVID-19 pandemic. According to her, the conditions at that time needed a quick and appropriate response in order to eliminate the impact so that it would not spread.
He said that the as usual policy was not effective enough to handle the existing situation. For this reason, the government decided to take a number of special steps in executing fiscal instruments.
"In the atmosphere of COVID-19, we have to admit that there are many changes in the budget that must be made in that year (2020). Then because this virus mutates, the impact and impact on the community is very unpredictable. Here we have to change the budget quickly because it is clear that the APBN and APBD are countercyclical instruments to protect the community," he said on Thursday, September 22.
The Minister of Finance added that in dealing with extraordinary situations, stakeholders, both at the center and in the regions, are hesitant to make decisions immediately. This can be understood because new policies are considered quite vulnerable to ensnaring government officials in the space for budget abuse.
These changes that must be fast and responsive must remain accountable and that is not an easy combination. I can see that at almost all points of decision making we even invite law enforcement officials to be able to monitor directly so that it shows that we have good intentions and are evidence," he said.
The strategy of calling the police cs is considered by the Minister of Finance to play a significant role in warding off differences in perceptions during the audit period of the following year.
We are still accompanied by BPKP and also continue to coordinate and consult with the BPK. Because we understand that when we make decisions it could be a year later when we are audited the atmosphere will be different. This often creates different views. Therefore, our work is extraordinary by coordinating and working together even in a pandemic situation," said the Minister of Finance.
For information, at the beginning of the 2020 pandemic, the government decided to roll out a National Economic Recovery (PEN) fund of IDR 695 trillion with a realization of IDR 579 trillion or around 83.4 percent of the budget ceiling. The budget is distributed to various clusters, including health, social protection, MSME support, and business incentives.
A year later, the PEN fund was budgeted at IDR 658 trillion in the 2021 State Budget. This figure was later increased to IDR 744 trillion in the middle of the year due to the delta variant outbreak.
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