TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo or Jokowi warned district and city officials to conduct procurement with only domestic products. The head of state lamented that much of the budget was still spent on imported products.

Jokowi conveyed this when delivering his remarks at the National Working Meeting of the Indonesian Regency Governments Association (APKASI) in Jakarta on Wednesday, July 10, 2024. The former Mayor of Solo said that the government collected money from state revenues with great difficulty.

"Every bit of rupiah is collected by the Minister of Finance and transferred to regions only to be spent on imported products that benefit other countries,” Jokowi said. "Let this be a reminder to purchase our own products.”

Jokowi noted that regional budget absorption for domestic products was only at 41 percent. Jokowi expected the procurement of goods and services to be 100 percent from domestic products.

On the same occasion, Jokowi ordered regional heads to maintain inflation and intervene if there was an increase in prices in the market.

Jokowi brought up Indonesia's economic growth at 5.11 percent in the first quarter of this year despite various global challenges. The president also said the government could control inflation in June by 2.5 percent.

“Future challenges will only become harder and more complex. We need to be as adaptive as possible and continue to innovate, especially in the regional level," said Jokowi.

DANIEL A. FAJRI

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