Indonesia finance minister sees 2021 budget deficit smaller than 5.4% of GDP

MACROECONOMICS - JAKARTA. Indonesia's fiscal deficit may narrow to less than 5.4% of gross domestic product this year, due to the commodity boom and economic recovery following its deadliest COVID-19 wave, its finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Monday.

Sri Mulyani told a virtual forum with the Institute of International Finance that Indonesia's economic recovery has picked up since late August, after COVID-19 cases started to decline following a devastating spike in July.

The government has raised its COVID-19 relief budget to respond to rising cases. It's previous 2021 budget deficit outlook was 5.82% of GDP.

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