Discussion Of The 2022 State Budget P2 Bill, Sri Mulyani: Not Just An Ordinary Year

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani (Photo: Capture the Youtube screen of the DPR RI)

JAKARTA – The government, represented by the Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani, responded to the views of the factions on the Bill on Accountability for the Implementation (PP) of the State Budget for the 2022 Fiscal Year. On this occasion, the Minister of Finance stated that the 2022 State Budget was the last year of widening the deficit above 3 percent. According to him, during that period was a difficult time for the economy. "At a time when the world is just starting to recover from the pandemic, we are faced with another shock, namely geopolitical in the form of a Russian-Ukraine war. This creates a complexity of global problems because it significantly disrupts the supply chain of goods and services," he said at the Senayan parliament building, Jakarta on Tuesday, August 29. The Minister of Finance explained that this condition had consequences for a sharp spike in food prices and commodities. He said, the world was not ready because it was still stuck in the economic recovery. “ Food price spike and energy prices make inflation very high. This was responded to by aggressive monetary tightening which then caused shocks in the global financial market,” he said. “ that's the shocks that occur in 2022 and are not just an ordinary year. Thank God Indonesia was able to overcome it very well, "” said the Minister of Finance. The state treasurer added that in difficult conditions, the Indonesian economy could actually grow 5.3 percent or higher than the 5.2 percent target. “ When inflation in developed countries hit the worst number in the last 40 years, Indonesian inflation was only 5.5 percent. This is a very moderate figure compared to the majority of countries in the world,” he said.

Citing the Ministry of Finance's broadcast, it is known that the realization of state revenues and grants until the end of December 2022 was recorded at Rp2,626.42 trillion or 115.90 percent of the target. Then the realization of state spending was recorded at IDR 3,090.75 trillion (99.5 percent of the ceiling, and recorded growth of 10.90 percent year on year (yoy). This position makes the budget deficit negative at IDR 464.33 trillion or around negative 2.38 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). This score is lower than the initial assumption of IDR 840.2 trillion or 4.5 percent of GDP. Meanwhile, the government's debt position last year was closed at IDR 7,733.99 trillion, equivalent to 39.57 percent of GDP.