Indonesia disburses 44 percent of economic recovery budget

Jakarta (VNA) – The Indonesian government has disbursed 304.6 trillion Rp (20.5 billion USD), or 43.8 percent of the 695 trillion Rp national economic recovery (PEN) budget, with social safety net spending accelerating but healthcare spending still lagging.

PEN committee head Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the government had spent 150.8 trillion Rp, or 74 percent of the social safety net budget, in the hope of softening the demand shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and helping people stay afloat amid the economic downturn.

For health care, the government has spent 21.79 trillion Rp, or around 25 percent of the allocation in the COVID-19 relief package, mainly on incentives for medical workers, death compensation, COVID-19 handling in hospitals and healthcare facilities, as well as the National Health Insurance (JKN) and tax incentives in the healthcare sector.

According to Indonesian Deputy Finance Minister Suahasil Nazara, the government is still prioritising the disbursement of COVID-19 relief package, while a funding for the COVID-19 vaccine is available.

Indonesian economists said that the coronavirus relief package disbursement was relatively low despite its big impact, adding that it should have reached around 70 percent by September.

The government’s fear of mistargeting the relief package and thus getting criminalised or politicised was the bigger obstacle in getting the assistance to the people, they noted./.