JAKARTA - Economist of the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) Didik Rachbini highlighted the government's debt that continued to swell under the leadership of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).
Didik said, the current position and ratio of government debt is very worrying.
In November 2022, the Ministry of Finance reported that the government's debt position reached IDR 7,554.2 trillion with a debt ratio of 38.6 percent of GDP.
When compared to the 2014 debt position, during the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) ended, the government debt position was IDR 2,608.78 trillion.
"2014 debt positions are Rp2,600 (trillions), this SBY was severely attacked in campaigns until normal days. Until November 2022 the debt is Rp7,500 (trillions)," he said in his early record in the 2023 Indef year, Thursday, January 5.
Didik said, the amount of debt does not include the debt of state-owned companies.
If it is totaled with SOE debt, the amount will be very fantastic.
According to Didik, President Jokowi will inherit a large amount of debt for the next Indonesian leader.
"In addition to BUMN of IDR 2,000-IDR 3,000 (trillion), tens of trillions of debt inherited to the leader will come," he said.
According to Didik, he has often talked about the portion of the debt of President Jokowi's government. But unfortunately, the scathing criticism was ignored.
In fact, said Didik, the surge in debt will have implications for state financial management.
"I'm screaming a lot about this, but I don't really pay attention. The implications to the state budget in the future will run out to pay off debts," he explained.
Didik added that the soaring debt during the Jokowi administration occurred due to the COVID-19 period.
The government has authoritarianly issued a Perppu that has widened the budget deficit.
"Initially, COVID-19 was a source of justification for the authoritarian crisis and the DPR could not do anything with Perppu," he said.
Furthermore, Didik admitted, the economy and politics cannot be separated.
However, said Didik, the problem is that there is a postponement to the political world in Indonesia.
He considered that too many collusions made the function of check and balance in the DPR very weak.
Economics and politics cannot be separated. There are facts based on the budget deficit that occur because budget planning is less mature. Debt development is increasing, finally political conditions damage democracy in Indonesia," he said.
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