Good News! Mrs. Sri Mulyani Willing to Use the State Budget to Improve the Skills of Youtubers of the Republic of Indonesia

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani (left) with Youtuber Atta Halilintar (Photo: Instagram @smindrawati)

JAKARTA - The visit of the Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani, to the United States last week brought good news for young Indonesians.

It is stated that the Minister of Finance is willing to allocate several funds in the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) which will be used to improve the quality of human resources (HR) in the national creative industry. This was revealed in a release from the Ministry of Finance which was broadcast today, Tuesday, October 18.

"Indonesia has education funds that can be directed to develop creative economy capabilities, of course, by involving local governments and the private sector in its implementation", she said.

According to the Minister of Finance, the government's commitment emerged after he met with Google's Vice President of Global Government Affairs and Public Policy, Karan Bhatia, in Washington DC, United States last Friday.

On the occasion, the Minister of Finance said that Indonesia has many small and medium-sized companies working in this sector. It's just that the level of digital literacy is considered to be still low so efforts are needed to increase it.

“Digitalization is growing rapidly, making digital-related work more interesting. This can be seen from the number of new YouTubers and content creators who continue to attend because the creative industry is now very promising", she said.

The Minister of Finance added that in responding to the challenges faced by the government, the government has now thought about how to build digital infrastructure while also increasing the ability of the community (HR) to utilize digital technology.

"That's why Indonesia is focusing on investing to build digital infrastructure, especially in remote areas to improve connectivity", he said.

In this regard, Google is said to have played a role and cooperated with the Government of Indonesia, including through the construction of a cable network. Then there is also a capacity building program by building a digital service certificate program to increase digital skills.

"The program, which was just launched in 2022, has involved around 20,000 participants. There is also an academy educator program that teaches how Youtube is used for education. This program attracts many enthusiasts from Indonesia and can be further developed for reskilling for the Indonesian people", she explained.

Note, the government is required to budget for education funds of 20 percent of the total state budget spending each year. As for the 2022 period, the total education budget is IDR 621 trillion. Meanwhile, in the 2023 APBN draft, the education sector budget is provided at IDR 608 trillion.

The high education budget in 2022 cannot be separated from high state revenues due to the commodity windfall effect that has occurred since the end of last year. This then has implications for the portion of the mandatory budget which must also be increased.