State budget set between Rp 2.20q-Rp 2.35q in 2018

JAKARTA. The Finance Ministry announced on Monday that the government has set its 2018 state budget at between Rp 2.20 quadrillion (US$165.50 billion) and Rp 2.35 quadrillion, compared to Rp 2.08 quadrillion this year.

State expenditure would still largely focus on infrastructure construction, education and health cares, as well as a large portion of spending of regional administrations, said Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati

"The central government’s spending in 2018 will be around 9.1 to 9.2 percent of gross domestic product [GDP]," she said at a hearing with the House of Representatives (DPR) Commission XI overseeing financial affairs.

The hearing was to discuss the macroeconomic assumption.

Meanwhile, regional transfers will be between 5.6 and 5.9 percent of GDP, spending in ministries will be between 5.2 to 6.2 percent and spending in other government institutions will be between 3.9 to 4.2 percent of GDP, Sri Mulyani said.

The tax ratio is expected to reach between 11 and 12 percent in 2018, while total government revenue set to reach 12.9 to 14.1 percent of GDP.

"With this spending and revenue figure we will have deficit of around 1.9 to 2.3 percent of the GDP and a primary balance of minus 0.6 to 0.4 percent of GDP," she added.

The government has set a 2018 economic growth target of between 5.4 to 6.1 percent, much higher than the 5.1 percent target for 2017. (Anton Hermansyah)