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Govt, state-owned lenders cooperate on transparent spending
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An employer supervises the printing process of Bank Mandiri credit cards at the state-owned lender's headquarters in Jakarta. (Antara/Puspa Perwitasari)
T
he Finance Ministry's Directorate General of the Treasury signed on Wednesday a cooperation agreement with the Association of State-Owned Banks (Himbara) to allow government working units to use credit cards for their expenses as part of an effort to improve transparency in the bureaucracy.
Under the agreement, as many as 500 government working units are allowed to use credit cards for their daily expenses and for expenses for civil servants on official trips.
The issuers of the credit cards include PT Bank Mandiri, PT Bank Nasional Indonesia (BNI), Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) and Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI).
There are around 26,000 government-run working units, but the director general of the treasury, Marwanto, said that, for the time being, the banks would issue credit cards for 500 working units across the country, with the price ceiling ranging from Rp 50 million (US$3,500) to Rp 200 million.
Previously, civil servants were required to withdraw money from their bank accounts to fund their daily expenses.
Marwanto said that, with the agreement, civil servants would be required to minimize the use of cash for daily transactions, which would encourage transparency in the use of state funds by civil servants because all transactions would be recorded. (bbn)
