State Budget 2020 Approved by Indonesia’s House of Representatives (DPR); Where Does the Focus Lie?
On 25 September 2019, only a few days before Indonesia’s House of Representatives (in Indonesian: Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, or DPR) finished its 2014-2019 term, it approved the 2020 State Budget bill (UU APBN 2020).
All political parties in the DPR approved the bill. However, two parties – Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) – approved it with notes. Both Gerindra and PKS are not in the coalition of Indonesian President Joko Widodo, and that may explain why they are more critical. Gerindra mentioned a number of matters that they regard need more attention from the government in the 2019-2024 period, including food, energy, and water sovereignty, optimize state revenue, reduce Indonesia’s appetite for imports, and ensure that fiscal policies have an impact on the domestic economy.
Meanwhile, PKS said the government needs to reconsider the rupiah exchange rate target of IDR 14,400 per US dollar that is set in the 2020 State Budget, and emphasized that the poverty and unemployment targets are not ambitious enough. The Islam-based party also opposes the IDR 2 trillion (approx. USD $140 million) of funds in the budget that are set aside for the project to shift the capital city from Jakarta to East Kalimantan. This shift is currently still in the ‘study phase’ and therefore does not yet have a clear legal umbrella. As a consequence, the central government will need to be very careful when disbursing funds for this project.
Read the full article in the September 2019 edition of our monthly research report. You can purchase the report by sending an email to [email protected] or a WhatsApp message to the following number: +62(0)8788.410.6944
