Adi Budiarso (kemenkeu.go.id)
The Finance Ministry has reported that the realization of the budget for national economic recovery has reached Rp192.53 trillion as of August 26, 2020, accounting for 27.7 percent of the budget ceiling of Rp695.2 trillion.
“The figure is quite encouraging,” chief of the Financial Sector Policy Center of the Fiscal Policy Board at the Finance Ministry, Adi Budiarso, said at a hearing with Commission VI of the House of Representatives (DPR) in Jakarta on Monday.
The realization of budget funds for the health sector has reached Rp12.3 trillion of the Rp87.55-trillion ceiling; social protection Rp101.06 trillion of the Rp203.9-trillion ceiling; business incentives Rp17.23 trillion of the Rp120.61-trillion ceiling; and, micro, small, and medium businesses Rp47.03 trillion of the Rp123.46-trillion ceiling.
The realization of the budget for the sectoral post of ministries, non-ministerial government institutions, and regional governments have touched Rp14.91 trillion of the Rp106.11-trillion ceiling, while the budget for corporate financing with a ceiling of Rp53.57 trillion has not been realized.
The realization of the budget for national economic recovery since the first half of 2020 has reached 24.4 percent of the total allocation.
To speed up national economic recovery, the government has extended several programs until December 2020, expedited the processing of new proposals from various clusters, redesigned programs to make them more effective, and shortened the bureaucratic process.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has stressed that national economic recovery would largely depend on the availability of the coronavirus vaccine.
Once a vaccine is found, the government will distribute it to the public and expedite the treatment of COVID-19 patients, she said at an online discussion in Jakarta last Thursday.
"Whether the vaccine will soon be discovered and can be distributed will have an extraordinary impact on all activities of the community, including economic activities," she opined.
She said the government has drafted various policies to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 through the National Economic Recovery (PEN) program. (ANTARA)