SBY proposes 2012 state budget to legislators

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Tuesday proposed the government’s finalized 2012 state budget to be deliberated by the House of Representatives in the current session.

The budget proposed a state revenue of Rp 1,292.9 trillion in 2012, up 10.5 percent or Rp 123 trillion from Rp 1,169.9 trillion in the revised 2011 state budget.

Meanwhile, state spending is expected to reach Rp 1,418.5 trillion, up 7.4 percent or Rp 97.7 trillion from Rp 1,320.8 trillion in the revised 2011 state budget, Yudhoyono told legislators in his annual economic speech ahead of the nation’s independence day.

“With this configuration in the proposed 2012 state budget we have succeeded in pushing the budget deficit to 1.5 percent of GDP,” he said. This compares to the current deficit of 2.1 percent of Indonesia's gross domestic product in the 2011 revised state budget.

Economic growth is set at 6.7 percent, headline inflation is expected to be 5.3 percent, the benchmark three-month T-bills rate has been set at 6.5 percent, the rupiah exchange rate is Rp 8,800 to the US dollar, oil prices are expected to be US$90 per barrel and the government oil-lifting target is 950,000 barrels per day.

The government’s budget proposal will be deliberated by the related commission of the House of Representatives in the current session, before it can be approved.