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View all search resultsCOVID-19 aid funding held up by red tape
Sri Mulyani admitted that the stimulus spending was still slow to take effect on the economy due to the operational challenges.
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everal administrative issues have hampered the government’s efforts to disburse COVID-19 funds swiftly, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said, as economists push the government to quickly channel the funds to avoid slowing economic recovery.
Sri Mulyani admitted that the stimulus spending was still slow to take effect on the economy due to the operational challenges.
“The stimulus is currently in the early stage and we will improve [disbursement] to speed up spending,” she said on Monday, urging ministries and government agencies to accelerate spending in a bid to bolster the economy.
Disbursement of the COVID-19 budget for the healthcare sector, for instance, stood at less than 5 percent so far, she added. The Health Ministry has encountered problems in verifying the hospitals, the doctors’ names and their area of duty, meaning that not all frontliners had received government incentives, among other issues.
“On that basis, the administrative and verification process remain obstacles [in disbursing the funds],” Sri Mulyani stressed.
In a video released on Sunday by his press office, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo highlighted the slow disbursement of the government’s COVID-19 response budget as he called on his ministers to go the extra mile to accelerate the implementation of pandemic policies.
“All the money that’s supposed to be for the people is stuck,” he said, telling his ministers to disburse the healthcare budget and the much-anticipated social aid program in an uncharacteristically angry speech.
