TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
2023 budget deficit may be smaller than estimated
As 2023 draws toward its end, the full-year gap between state expenditure and state revenue may be smaller than projected back in July.
Change Size
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati (second left) talks during a meeting with lawmakers on House of Representatives Commission XI overseeing finance at the House compound in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on March 27, 2023. (Antara/Aditya Pradana Putra)
A
fter being in surplus for most of 2023, the state budget has fallen into deficit territory as of October, yet the full-year figure could turn out better than what the Finance Ministry had projected back in July.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati revealed in a press briefing on Friday that ten months into 2023, the state budget shows a deficit of Rp 700 billion (US$45 million).
“Total posture experienced a deficit of Rp 700 billion, or 0.003 percent of our GDP,” Sri Mulyani said on Friday.
In July, the ministry published its projection for a full-year deficit of 2.3 percent of GDP, but with an almost balanced budget just two months before the end of the year, the shortfall may be less than that.
The ministry’s Fiscal Policy Agency head, Febrio Nathan Kacaribu, said in the same briefing that the odds of the budget deficit ending up lower than 2.3 percent were “seemingly becoming more real”.
“And thus, this will turn into a way for our state budget to still function as a shock absorber and pillar for economic growth,” Febrio said.
However, Febrio avoided answering the question when asked whether the government had any new outlook for the deficit, saying only that there would be a readjustment to make it “more reflective” of today’s situation.
