Bappenas Head: Fuel Price Hike Inevitable
17 July 2014 12:10 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The large global economic pressure this time has urged the government to immediately increase the price of fuel in the near future. "I think it's an inevitable choice," said National Development Planning (Bappenas) Head Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana yesterday.
Two important tasks are awaiting the new government; one of them is the increasing fuel price, which must be taken care of fast so that fiscal burden can be dealt with earlier. "The effect of fuel price hike is not only in 2014 but also in 2015," said Armida.
By increasing fuel price, the new government will have many options to remove the current fuel subsidy and divert it to other subsidies that can directly affect the people. "The next government must immediately increase fuel price because it would be problematic or it must wait until next year," said Armida.
Previously, Finance Minister M.Chatib Basri said the government has yet to decide the raising fuel price to reduce subsidy since the current government is focusing on executing fuel conversion program to control the volume.
In the 2014 state budget, fuel subsidy budget is Rp210.7 trillion for a total quota of 48 million kiloliters. The budget is bigger than the 2013 budget, which was Rp199.9 trillion for the same quota.
JAYADI SUPRIADIN
