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Govt pledges higher spending boost. This time, it's focusing on health.
Nearly a year into battling the pandemic, the Indonesian government has switched focus to pouring more funds into public health with a 20.6 percent hike to the 2021 coronavirus stimulus budget.
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A health worker holds up a vial containing the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine on Jan. 15, 2021 at the Jurang Mangu community health center in South Tangerang, Banten. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
T
he government has pledged to boost spending to drive the recession-hit economy, including by increasing the COVID-19 stimulus funds to bring the raging health crisis under control.
Government spending was up 4.2 percent year-on-year (yoy) in January 2021 to Rp 145.8 trillion (US$10.5 billion), driven in part by spending on social protection and infrastructure, according to Finance Ministry data. The government is planning to increase spending 6.2 percent this year to Rp 2.75 quadrillion from Rp 2.58 quadrillion last year.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati on Tuesday told a virtual press conference that the government had also raised the 2021 national economic recovery (PEN) fund to Rp 699.43 trillion, up 20.6 percent from last year’s actualized budget, and 73.2 percent higher than the Rp 403.9 trillion initially earmarked for the program in early January.
The PEN budget hike includes a nearly threefold increase to the healthcare stimulus fund to Rp 176.3 trillion to support the country’s COVID-19 response, including the mass inoculation program. The healthcare stimulus fund, which saw the single largest budget increase, also has the second largest budget allocation among all PEN program sectors.
“If we look at 2021, the [PEN financing] design has been modified,” Sri Mulyani told reporters.
She explained that the government had dramatically increased the healthcare stimulus fund because the public health sector had commenced the “three Ts” (test, trace, treat) and inoculation programs nationwide.
