TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The government has spent Rp304.66 trillion from the national economic recovery (PEN) program's budget. The figure accounts for 43.8 percent of the allocated Rp695.2 trillion in the 2020 State Budget.
"We can see that the PEN program has experienced significant acceleration during August and September 2020," Deputy Minister of Finance Suahazil Nazara said in a virtual press conference, Wednesday, September 30.
The PEN budget absorbed by the health sector amounted to Rp21.79 trillion. Social protection used up Rp150.86 trillion; sectoral ministries and institutions as well as local governments absorbed Rp25.3 trillion; business incentives took Rp27.61 trillion; and Rp79.06 trillion was spent on MSMEs support.
Suahasil said the accelerated absorption was supported by several factors. Among them are the accelerated spending on Covid-19 relief efforts; fast-tracking the special allocation fund program, intensive regional recovery funds and the Pre-employment Card program; as well as several new programs that were immediately disbursed—such as the MSMEs productive assistance and wage/salary subsidies.
Suahasil hoped that the budget absorption will help push economic growth in the third quarter, so that the contraction will not be as deep as in the second quarter when it reached -5.3 percent.
