VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia's budget deficit in the quarter ended March 31, 2019, totaled Rp102 trillion, accounting for 0.63 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP), according to the finance ministry. The first-quarter budget deficit rose slightly compared to 0.58 percent of the GDP in the same quarter last year.

"The budget deficit in the first quarter of 2019 was 0.63 percent of the GDP. Meanwhile, the target of the budget deficit for this year is 1.84 percent of the GDP," chief of the ministry's fiscal policy board, Suahasil Nazara, said at a press conference on the latest development of the state budget in Jakarta Monday.

The realization of state revenues until the end of the first quarter reached Rp350.1 trillion or 16.17 percent of the budget allocations worth Rp2,165.1 trillion, according to the ministry's data for the April 2019 period. The state revenues rose 4.9 percent compared to the same period last year.

The state revenues were mostly fueled by tax receipts which reached Rp248.98 trillion or 15.78 percent of the target of Rp1,577.6 trillion. The tax receipts grew 1.82 percent.

Meanwhile, customs and excise receipts jumped 73.04 percent annually to Rp30.97 trillion, accounting for 14.83 percent of the target of Rp208.82 trillion.

However, due to a shortfall in oil and commodity prices in the first quarter of 2019, non-tax state revenues fell 1.47 percent to Rp70.04 trillion.

State spending in the first quarter of 2019 reached Rp452.06 trillion, up 7.75 percent annually.

State spending comprised the central government's spending which rose 11.4 percent to Rp260.7 trillion while the transfer of funds to regions and village funds reached Rp191.33 trillion, up 3.09 percent.

Social aid rose 106.6 percent to Rp36.trillion per annum or 38 percent of the ceiling of the social aid set forth in the 2019 state budget at Rp224.41 trillion.

As such, the primary balanced deficit stood at Rp31.38 trillion as of the end of March 2019. (ant)