The State Budget Will Focus On Reducing Poverty And Stunting In 2024

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Ministry of Finance)

JAKARTA - The government through the Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani emphasized that the draft State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) 2024 will be focused on reducing poverty and stunting.

According to Sri Mulyani, this is in accordance with the President's direction in a Limited Meeting on Macroeconomic Policy and Fiscal Policy Principles (KEM-PPKF) for the 2024 State Budget.

"The reduction in extreme poverty to 0 percent will be pursued in 2024 and this means that the total poverty will decrease," he said in a written statement quoted on Tuesday, February 21.

The Minister of Finance said that the government is also increasing the budget allocation in the context of reducing stunting to 3 percent.

"This means that hard additional effort and budget allocation are needed for this year and next year," he said.

Furthermore, the state treasurer revealed that the global situation had changed drastically and should be anticipated in the form of increasing geopolitical tension, increasing global interest rates as a result of very high world inflation, as well as reopening China after the lockdown period.

"The government will anticipate the geopolitical impact on the disruption of the export rate and the possibility of increasing commodity prices due to political competition between big countries," he said.

He said Indonesia's economic growth, which is currently quite strong at 5.3 percent in 2022, will continue to maintain its momentum in 2023 and 2024.

"This means that in terms of demand, household consumption can continue to grow above 5 percent, inflation in Indonesia must also be controlled, consumer confidence must be maintained, and investments will continue to be strengthened," closed the Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani.