Stimulus Swells State Budget Deficit
The Finance Ministry has revised the 2020 state budget’s deficit-to-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio to 6.27 percent or equivalent to Rp 1,028.5 trillion, even though the government had already set it at 5.07 percent or about Rp 852.9 trillion.
The 5.07 percent deficit appeared in Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No. 54/2020, consisting of provisions in Government Regulation in Lieu of Law (Perppu) No. 1/2020 on the state financial policy and financial system stability to mitigate Covid-19. “The current situation forced us to change the 2020 state budget posture previously stated in Perpres No. 54/2020. We will revise the Perpres and submit it to the House of Representatives’ Commission XI, “Finance Minister Sri Mulyani revealed in a video conference on Monday (5/18).