Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati (Photo: Bloomberf) Jakarta (VNA) - Indonesia’sstate budget deficit had reached 500.5trillion Rp (33.96 billion USD) by the end of August, equivalent to 3.05 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), Finance Minister SriMulyani Indrawati said on September 22.
This is the first time thestate budget deficit has reached beyond 3 percent since the government relaxedthe legal limit through the Law No. 2/2020 to help fund the fight against thepandemic.
The government expects thebudget deficit to reach 6.34 percent this year, up from the initial deficit capof 3 percent, as it allocated 695.2 trillion Rp worth of stimulus to rescue the economy.
The Finance Ministry’s data show that the country had collected 1.03quadrillion Rp in state revenue as ofAugust, marking a decrease of 13.1 percent year-on-year (yoy) following a dropin both tax revenue and non-tax income. The collected figure is about 60.8percent of this year’s revenue target.
Tax revenue, the mainsource of income for the government, fell 15.6 percent yoy to 676.9 trillion Rp due to a sharp fall in corporate taxes and importtaxes amid slowing economic activity.
Meanwhile, state expenditurerose 10.6 percent yoy to 1.53 quadrillion Rp during the same period, or 56 percent of this year’starget. Central government expenditure rose 14 percent to 977.3 trillion Rp driven by higher social and stimulus spending. Ithad spent around 36 percent of the 695.2 trillion Rp COVID-19 stimulus budget as of September 19./.
VNA
