VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo led a plenary cabinet meeting at the Bogor Palace, West Java, on Tuesday, for holding discussions on budget allocation and indicative budgetary ceiling for 2020.

"I am keen to carry forward what we had discussed yesterday regarding budget allocation and the indicative ceiling," he noted.

The head of state drew emphasis on bolstering and stepping up capital expenditure as the key areas of focus in budget allocation for 2020.

"Every ministry should be in a position to direct its organization into materializing its budget expenditure," he remarked.

The president has appealed to ministries and state institutions to curtail goods expenditure as far as possible. "Mrs. Finance Minister (Sri Mulyani), you should be referring to 2017, as a benchmark year, to drive efforts to achieving those figures," Jokowi reiterated.

The president further appealed to ministries to lay priority on the development of human resources in 2020.

"We will hold specific discussions for concerned ministries, comprising for (formulating) an incentive provision policy for firms that take part in holding large-scale trainings and courses within and outside the nation," he stated.

The president is optimistic that the course and training programs would be held in 2019, the outcomes of which would be amply visible in the subsequent years.

Vice President M. Jusuf Kalla, Sri Mulyani, Minister State Secretary Pratikno, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Wiranto, and Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto were among the attendees at the plenary cabinet meeting. (ant)