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Sri Mulyani explains spending behind swelling debt
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Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati (JP/Anton Hermansyah)
F
inance Minister Sri Mulyani acknowledged on Tuesday that government debt under President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had increased significantly, but she argued that the funds had been used in a productive way.
“The base figure is big and people just talk about that. They do not talk about what the funds were for. Look also at the expenditure side,” said Sri Mulyani in Jakarta on Tuesday at a press conference on the Jokowi government’s performance over the past four years.
In the 2012-2014 period, she explained that government debt increased by Rp 788.8 trillion (US$51.92 billion), while in the 2015-2017 period, it increased by Rp 1.33 quadrillion.
She said, however, the spending for infrastructure amounted to only Rp 456 trillion from 2012 to 2014, compared with the spending in the same sector, which reached Rp 904.6 from 2015 to 2017, while, the spending on education also increased from Rp 983 trillion to Rp 1.17 quadrillion.
“Spending on education is productive spending. Don’t just view productive spending only as infrastructure like bridge and road projects,” she explained.
She explained further that the spending on health care increased from Rp 146 trillion to Rp 249.8 trillion and spending on social activities increased from Rp 35 trillion to Rp 299.6 trillion.
“Therefore, we saw a decrease in the poverty rate and the Gini ratio. The poverty rate decrease did not occur suddenly. It was achieved through a program,” she added as reported by kompas.com. (bbn)
