TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The House of Representatives (DPR) is urging the government to set human development targets when discussing about the State Budget. That way, said DPR's Budget Committee chairman Fadel Muhammad, legislatives will know what impacts the state budget has in raising social welfare. Discussing the targets will also "bind the government's hands and feet" in using the state budget, he said.

According to Fadel, not having a human development target—covering aspects of poverty, employment, Gini ratio—is narrowing the government's focus on pursuing macro assumptions targets alone, regardless of its impact on the people's welfare.

Enny Sri Hartati, an economist from the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef), said the government's orientation currently remains only on economic growth targets. In 2012, she said, growth reached six percent but the level of economic inequality and poverty rates did not improve.

"Economic growth targets end up being a meaningless, without-quality instrument," she said.

Meanwhile, Gadjah Mada University economist Tony Prasetiantono said the government's current system of determining macro indicators suffices. He said that achieving macroeconomic targets automatically impacts people's welfare, although it may not always be reflected in the human development index. He pointed out the fact that the US and China have the highest GDP worldwide, yet both countries Gini ratios are quite bad at more than 0.4 percent.

Tony said it is difficult to set Gini ratio and the human development index alongside macro assumptions, because the numbers are likely to change in a period of four to five years.

Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro has agreed to discuss human development targets during the State Budget macro assumptions meetings. This recent statement contradicts the one he made last week, when he said that it was difficult for the government to include Gini ratio, poverty, and human development index in macro assumption discussions, as they don't "play a role" in budget calculations.

TRI ARTINING PUTRI