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Revised budget passed, spending in line
The city administration is upbeat that it will meet its spending target this year, despite the late passage of the revised budget
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he city administration is upbeat that it will meet its spending target this year, despite the late passage of the revised budget.
The City Council on Monday evening finally endorsed the Rp 50.1 trillion (US$4.4 billion) revised budget, which was slightly higher than the previously approved budget of Rp 49.97 trillion.
'Ninety-seven percent of it didn't change,' Governor Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo said when asked about the extent of revisions to the new budget.
The governor said that none of the changes to the revised budget were significant.
'Some land acquisition programs were scrapped due to bureaucratic issues. We reallocated the funds to add PMP [government investment participation] to a number of city firms,' he said, referring to property developers PT Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro), PD Pembangunan Sarana Jaya and Bank DKI, which will receive Rp 350 billion, Rp 130 billion and Rp 370 billion respectively.
During the first semester, the city administration had spent Rp 10.09 trillion or 22.14 percent of its total budget and had earned Rp 16.23 trillion in city income, or 39.11 percent of the targeted Rp 41.52 trillion for this year.
Among Jokowi's priority programs this year were the Jakarta Health Card (KJS), Jakarta Smart Card (KJP), dredging projects and public bus procurement.
The city forecast that economic growth in Jakarta would stand between 6.3 percent and 6.7 percent, a shade higher than the national economic growth projection of between 6.2 percent and 6.6 percent.
Despite a current deflationary trend at the national level, inflation persisted in Jakarta, though at a decreasing rate ' 0.21 percent in September, down from 0.95 percent in August.
Jakarta Statistics Agency (BPS) head Nyoto Widodo said on Tuesday that gold jewelry was the area most affected by inflation, with 0.49 percent, followed by recreation activities at 0.07 percent and rice at 0.04 percent.
'Some commodities, such as shallots, red chilis, eggs, potatoes and beef recorded deflation last month,' he told reporters at a press conference at his office in Jakarta.
Data from the agency show Jakarta was among 13 out of 66 studied cities in Indonesia that recorded inflation in September. Inflation was highest in Tanjung Pinang, Riau Islands, with 1.7 percent.
In the first nine months of this year, inflation in Jakarta reached 7.05 percent, while the year-on-year rate was 8.37 percent.
'For exports and imports of Jakarta's products, the trend was similar to that on the national level. It was going down,' Nyoto said.
According to the data, the value of Jakarta's exports touched $683.5 million in August, falling 31.4 percent from July and 14.09 percent year-on-year. The largest decline was contributed by vehicles and spare parts, garments, knitwear and jewelry.
'Based on destination countries, exports to Singapore declined the greatest, from $100.32 million to $82.23 million,' said Dody Rudyanto, the head of the agency's distribution statistics division.
As for imports into Jakarta, the value was $6.04 billion, a decrease of 29.49 percent compared to July and 10.22 percent year-on-year, the data revealed.
Foreign tourist arrivals to Jakarta also fell, to 194,204 in August from 195,073 in July.
Deputy chairman of the Jakarta office of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) Sarman Simanjorang said inflation for several food commodities was caused by the city administration's inability to provide sufficient supplies at affordable prices.
