Jokowi Cuts State Budget, Minister Budi to Not Purchase New Buses
30 August 2016 08:04 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has instructed 85 ministries/institutes to save expenses in the 2016 Revised State Budget.
In the President's Instruction, it said that the Defense Ministry's budget to be cut the most by Rp7.93 trillion - followed by the Public Works Ministry's budget (Rp6.98 trillion), Agriculture Ministry (Rp5.94 trillion), Health Ministry (Rp5.5 trillion), and Transportation Ministry (Rp 4.75 trillion).
Transportation Minister, Budi Karya Sumadi, has said that the saving was beyond expectation. He said that the ministry earlier had projected the saving to be in around Rp3.5 trillion.
“This is because we need to reevaluate," he said in Presidential Palace's complex on Monday, August 29, 2016.
Budi said the saving could reduce his ministry's performance, but he reassured that there will be budget for priority program.
He said that the ministry will stop buying new ships and buses. "We realize that public needs more buses. But we will subsidize instead of buying new armada," he said.