T

he government is looking to complete a series of long-awaited fiscal stimuli in the first half of this year as it seeks to boost economic growth crippled by persistent weakness in exports.

Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said on Tuesday that he would revise government regulations on tax allowance and tax holidays, in addition to tax incentives in special economic zones, in a bid to lure more investment.

'€œWe'€™ve never had a fiscal incentive package this big,'€ he said during a press briefing on the revised 2015 State Budget. '€œWe hope all of these [fiscal stimuli] will be completed in the first semester.'€

Since 2014, the Finance Ministry has floated the idea of giving tax incentives to companies that reinvest their earnings in Indonesia, partly by broadening the scope of industries eligible for tax breaks.

The ministry has also considered loosening the requirement for the tax-holiday facility, which currently provides a tax break for five to 10 years for companies investing at least Rp 1 trillion (US$783 million) in Indonesia.

President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo has pledged to improve the business climate and invite more investors in a bid to drive up economic growth, which has been slowing for three consecutive years because of lagging exports and investment.

The revised 2015 State Budget, approved by lawmakers last week, targeted growth of 5.7 percent this year, a significantly higher target than 5 percent a year earlier, as Jokowi aims to bolster growth to 7 percent within his five-year presidency.

In addition to introducing the fiscal stimulus, the government plans to double capital expenditure (capex) spending, which includes spending on investment in ministries as well as growth-generating infrastructure projects, to achieve the target.

The total amount of capex spending has yet to be revealed, but the Finance Ministry has estimated that it could be in the range of Rp 280 to 290 trillion, almost double the Rp 156.4 trillion in the original 2015 State Budget.

On Tuesday, Bambang revealed that most of the capex spending for infrastructure projects would be allotted to two ministries: The Public Works and Public Housing Ministry, which would receive Rp 105 trillion this year, and the Transportation Ministry, which would get Rp 52.5 trillion.

The government will ensure that all ministries are able to spend the funds, as it seeks to avoid past problems when many ministries had low disbursement rates because of their lack of budget-planning capacity and a complicated tender process.

'€œThe President has demanded that the spending realization be improved in the first and second quarters of this year,'€ said Askolani, the Finance Ministry'€™s director general for budgeting.

The Finance Ministry would strengthen the monthly monitoring system for the budget spending process among ministries to assist any difficulties in disbursing the funds, he added.

State budget disbursement never reached 100 percent between 2010 and 2013, averaging around 90 percent during that four-year period, data from the Finance Ministry show.