Jakarta, The Indonesia Post – Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati said that in January 2023 she had distributed priority spending worth IDR 20.8 trillion, consisting of IDR 5.3 trillion for health spending, IDR 0.9 trillion for food security spending, and IDR 14.6 trillion for social protection spending.
“The priority expenditure that we maintain is in the health sector worth IDR 5.3 trillion, especially for National Health Insurance (JKN) contributions for 96.7 million poor families who are JKN Contribution Assistance Recipients,” she said in a press conference on the State Budget (APBN). ) in Jakarta, Wednesday.
A total of IDR 4.47 trillion from ministerial and institutional spending is channeled to JKN PBI contributions and health services at TNI and Polri hospitals, while IDR 0.87 trillion from non-ministerial and institutional spending is distributed to PNS, TNI and Polri health insurance.
The government also disbursed a budget for food security worth IDR 900 billion which was used by the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (Kementerian PUPR) to build dams and irrigation worth IDR 630.8 billion.
The Ministry of Agriculture also disbursed a budget for food security worth IDR 125.4 billion and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries worth IDR 99.4 billion.
“We hope to be able to handle the problem of food prices, especially rice which is expected to be stable ahead of Ramadan and Eid,” she said.
Meanwhile, IDR 3.9 trillion from the social protection budget in January 2023 was distributed by the Ministry of Social Affairs as social assistance to disaster-affected communities and assistance to persons with disabilities, as well as to the Ministry of Religion as Smart Indonesia Card scholarships to students on campuses covered by the Ministry of Religion.
As much as IDR 10.7 trillion of the social protection budget is channeled as interest subsidies for People’s Business Credit for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
“This year’s KUR will increase so KUR subsidy spending will also be quite high. This is the government’s way of protecting MSMEs so that they can still access capital but not bear the increased interest costs,” she said. (mhn/bbs)
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