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Not all extra budget requests will be met, says Prabowo
“Stop prodding at the finance minister,” the President joked.
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President Prabowo Subianto delivers a speech at the 60th anniversary event of the Golkar Party in Sentul, Bogor regency, West Java, on Dec. 12, 2024. (Antara/Aditya Pradana Putra)
P
resident Prabowo Subianto has asked government institutions to understand that most requests for extra budget allocations next year will not be approved, given constraints stemming from the administration’s priority programs.
Prabowo made the comments on Monday at the National Development Planning Conference (Musrenbangnas) for the 2025-2029 National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN), during which he also joked that ministries and agencies should “stop prodding at the finance minister”.
“We ask for your magnanimity. What I mean by that is that there are priorities we have to pursue. Ministries and government agencies might not get the budgets they wished for. That’s how it is right now. Let’s see how things develop,” the President said, as quoted by detik.com.
Prabowo, who was sworn in on Oct. 20, has placed the Finance Ministry directly under the president, as compared to under the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister in the previous administration.
Prabowo also asked for the same understanding from regional leaders if their budget readjustment requests were not approved.
However, he promised that regional governments would get extra funds through other means, which he said should be used to support priority programs.
He claimed that the free meals program, for instance, could increase the regional economy by a factor of seven.
