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Delayed projects to be pushed in first quarter to boost growth
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Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati greets House of Representatives members before a hearing with House Commission XI. (Antara/Puspa Perwitasari)
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n an effort to maintain economic growth, the government plans to accelerate spending in the first quarter of this year, including pushing forward a number of projects whose developments have been delayed since 2016.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said financing from the state budget would be disbursed as soon as possible for ministries and institutions with delayed projects to ensure they would continue developments in the first quarter.
“We’re trying to serve ministries and institutions to continue their spending, which was delayed in 2016, so that they can execute it in the first quarter,” she said after a Finance Ministry gathering with stakeholders on Tuesday evening.
(Read also: Government may need to borrow for certain spending: Sri Mulyani)
“We will use the state budget as much as possible to maintain the momentum of economic growth.”
Many have predicted that Indonesia’s economy would experience lower grow in the first quarter of this year due to seasonal low spending as well as lingering effects from the government’s austerity measures on less important spending last year.
The government made state budget cuts worth Rp 137 trillion (US$10.24 billion) in early August last year to maintain a manageable deficit.
Indonesia’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 5.02 percent last year, lower than the targeted 5.2 percent. In the 2017 state budget, economic growth is targeted at 5.1 percent.
Bank Indonesia (BI) predicted that the country’s economy in the first quarter would grow lower than the central bank’s previous projection of 5.05 percent due to weaker government spending. (bbn)
