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Govt to reduce budget deficit to below 2%
The government expects to be able to curtail the deficit in the revised 2015 budget to below two percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) after cuts in spending and fuel subsidies
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he government expects to be able to curtail the deficit in the revised 2015 budget to below two percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) after cuts in spending and fuel subsidies.
'We want to push [the deficit] below 2 percent,' Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said on Wednesday as quoted by Antara.
He added that the budget deficit could drop below the initial estimate as a result of savings from optimization efforts and cuts in non-urgent spending.
The government is confident of an extra Rp 110 to Rp 140 trillion from the cuts in fuel subsidies to finance infrastructure development and social security programs.
In the meantime, President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo has set a target of reducing official travel and meeting expenditures by Rp 16 trillion and increasing tax revenue by up to Rp 600 trillion in 2015.
The government will immediately include the additional funds in the revised draft budget, which will be submitted to the legislature for discussion in January 2015.
The government earlier set several macro-economic assumptions for the 2015 budget including an economic growth rate of 5.8 percent, inflation at 4.4 percent, the rupiah exchange rate at Rp 11,900 against the US dollar and a three-month rate of state bonds at 6.0 percent. (***)
