VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati on Wednesday outlined the primary focus of the central government's spending allocation, which has been determined to be around Rp1.938.3 trillion in the 2022 State Budget Draft (RAPBN).

During a meeting here on Wednesday, Indrawati said that, on average, the central government's spending has grown by 13.5 percent from 2019 to 2021 — from Rp1,496.3 trillion in 2019 to Rp1,833 trillion in 2020 — and it is projected to reach Rp1,927 trillion in 2021.

Most of the spending will be utilized for COVID-19 handling and social aid since people need the incentives that the government is providing, she highlighted.

Meanwhile, the government will conduct normalization toward the utilization of next year's spending budget by spending funds to develop human resources through the education, health, and social protection sector, Indrawati informed.

"So it is used to build health, education, and social protection foundation such as infrastructure. Connectivity and ICT are especially a priority," she said.

For next year, the central government's primary spending focus will be to support structural reformation in the health, social protection, and education sectors, she added.

This will be done in consideration of how next year is going to be an exceptional year toward fiscal consolidation, the minister elaborated.

For a smooth transition toward fiscal consolidation in 2023, there will be synergy improvement in a variety of priority programs in the Government's Working Plan (RKP), the minister said.

There will also be a more accurate subsidy grant as well as the anticipation of fiscal risk mitigation in the utilization of the state budget, she added.

In addition, the central government's spending will also be focusing on supporting the completion of strategic infrastructure construction, operational implementation, and activities that align with the new method of working and the utilization of information technology, Indrawati informed. (Antaranews)