Govt Aims to Keep Deficit Below 2%
27 November 2014 01:16 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The government is confident they can crunch the deficit in the 2015 Amended State Budget and Expenditure to less than two percent of the GDP, or lower than in the previous budget assumption of 2.21 percent.
The confidence, says Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro, stems from the growing fiscal space after subsidized fuel prices were adjusted. The target is also supported by spending cuts and increased tax revenues.
Bambang hopes a slimmer budget deficit would reduce the frequency and volume of bond issuances. "Sourcing funds through securities issuances should be lessened in anticipation of Fed's interest rate hike," he spoke at the Indonesia Investment Forum 2014 at the Grand Hyatt, yesterday.
President Joko Widodo has ordered his ministers to cut inefficient budget posts. One of them is the budget for business travels and meetings, projected to reach Rp41 trillion in 2015, and now cut to Rp25 trillion.
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