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Budget revision unnecessary for state spending cut: Official
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State budget (-/-)
T
he adjustment in the revised 2016 state budget does not mean that the government has to go through the revised state budget deliberation process in the House of Representatives, an official has said.
The Finance Ministry's fiscal policy head Suahasil Nazara said the government conducted the second budget cut to better shape the state budget outlook. However, it did not mean that the government must revise the deliberated 2016 state budget, he underlined.
"According to the State Budget Law, if the government sees a shortage in state revenue, we can expand the SBN [government debt papers] issuance and can cut the expenditures without having to request state budget revision," Suahasil said in Jakarta on Monday.
He further said, the government would carry out a budget cut of Rp 133 trillion in the revised 2016 state budget due to the Rp 219 trillion shortfall projection in tax revenues by the end of this year.
"We have to manage spending at the ministries and agencies, by cutting Rp 65 trillion from the budget, the mechanism for which is being developed in each ministry and agency, as well as by cutting regional transfer funds of Rp 68 trillion," he explained.
That situation, he continued, would result in a wider budget deficit, which is predicted at 2.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), 0.15 percent wider than the previous target set in the revised 2016 state budget. (ags)
