City spends a quarter of its budget as of mid-year

JAKARTA: The city administration disbursed more than 25 percent of its Rp 24.28 trillion (US$2.67 billion) annual budget between January and June, Governor Fauzi Bowo told a plenary meeting Wednesday.

Disbursement in the first semester was smaller than the same period last year, which saw the disbursement of 37 percent of a Rp 23.98 trillion budget.

The city also collected 44.52 percent of its 2010 revenue target of Rp 22.17 trillion in the first semester, he added.

“It was higher than the same period last year, which only reached 35 percent,” Fauzi said.

The Jakarta chapter of the Supreme Audit Agency said that the city’s unrealized budget in 2009 reached Rp 3.75 trillion, higher than Rp 2.5 trillion that was set in 2010 city budget.

The city administration has proposed an 8.27 percent increase in the 2010 revised budget, from
Rp 24.67 trillion to Rp 26.71 trillion.

Education is set to get the lion’s share in the budget revision. The city proposed an additional Rp 1.13 trillion for schools for a total of Rp 7.08 trillion for education, or 26.5 percent of the proposed revised budget. — JP