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Govt to save more than $12.8 billion to finance 2023 spending
The government is planning ahead to build a cushion against a potential global recession in 2023 by saving almost US$13 billion in unused funds from this year’s budget.
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Done deal: Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati hands in the government’s response to the deliberation of the draft state budget for 2022 to House of Representatives Speaker Puan Maharani during a plenary session on Sept. 30. The House unanimously approved the draft state budget. (Antara/Dhemas Reviyanto)
T
he government plans to save at least US$12.83 billion (Rp 200 trillion) from this year’s unused budget for next year’s spending, in a bid to beef up the country’s treasury while staying the course to fiscal consolidation ahead of the global uncertainties expected in 2023.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati explained that the savings would be generated from excess revenue due to a temporary windfall profit from tax and nontax incomes, partly as a result of high commodity prices throughout this year.
The excess funds would fall under this year’s unused budget (SILPA), which was comparably higher than the Rp 225 trillion the government raised through its burden-sharing scheme with Bank Indonesia.
“Therefore, if next year I do not have a third joint decree [with BI], I will have a financing cushion in hand,” Sri Mulyani told participants during an event on the national economic outlook, held on Wednesday by the Office of the Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister.
Read also: Year of turmoil to test fiscal consolidation
The government will have to carry on next year without the BI burden-sharing scheme, which is set to end this year as mandated in a 2020 amendment to the law on state financial policy and financial system stability for handling the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, the newly passed omnibus law on the financial sector has made it possible to use the burden-sharing scheme during future crises.
