Nearly 30 Percent Of State Money Enters The Regional Government's Pocket, Jokowi Wants Productive Expenditures

President Joko Widodo (Photo: Presidential Secretariat)

The Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) informed that nearly a third of APBN expenditures are intended for transfers to the regions (TKD).

It was stated that the TKD allocation in the 2023 State Budget Law reached Rp. 814.72 trillion from the total state expenditure of Rp. 3,061 trillion. So far, the TKD budget is still the main support for the APBD.

For this strategic role, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) often instructs the quality of spending to continue to be improved.

"This effort is carried out not only through more efficient and productive spending control," said the Head of State as reported by the Ministry of Finance today, Tuesday, June 27.

According to the President, local governments (Pemda) must be the main supporter in national priority activities.

"This can produce a multiplier effect on the economy," he said.

However, the Ministry of Finance found that there were still disparities in spending quality between the center and the regions. Therefore, integrated synergies are needed to strengthen regional fiscal quality in order to accelerate and equalize development, and contribute to achieving national development targets.

"To overcome the behavior of regional spending, Law Number 1 of 2022 concerning Financial Relations between the Central Government and the Regional Government (UU HKPD) is the main solution so that local governments can execute APBD expenditures responsively, optimally, and have an impact on the welfare of the people in the regions," said the Ministry of Finance in its release.

To note, until May 2023, the value of central transfer to the regions has reached IDR 290.3 trillion. This realization is 2.1 percent higher than the same period the previous year, which was IDR 284.2 trillion.