Political Stability will Return Soon: Sri Mulyani

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati expected the situation and political stability in Indonesia to recover soon following the protests by students today, September 24, before the DPR/MPR building. "I hope that the triggering thing can be discussed through the existing political process so that it does not cause wider impact or sentiment," Sri Mulyani said after exposing the 2020 State Budget at the Directorate General of Taxes at Jakarta Tuesday.

Currently, Indonesia has a good momentum in encouraging economic growth despite the threat of recession faced by a number of countries from various issues including the trade war.

The momentum included a reduction in interest rates for the US central bank, The Federal Reserve (The Fed), which helped provide space for a number of developing countries including Indonesia to stimulate the economy, she continued.

Bank Indonesia has also lowered its benchmark interest rate or BI 7-Day Reverse Repo Rate to 5.25 percent due to improvement of the domestic economy and low inflation.

"So far, since April-August, we have received a lot of capital inflow into Indonesia. We should protect the situation," she said.

Therefore, Sri Mulyani invited all parties to restore the momentum. As a result, the government and related parties could focus on handling global economic challenges that came from outside.

The government seeks to increase economic growth and maintain momentum even though a number of countries are experiencing an economic recession, she said.

In the 2020 State Budget, the government used basic macroeconomic assumptions including economic growth of 5.3 percent and an inflation rate of 3.1 percent.

Besides, the rupiah exchange rate was Rp14.400 per US dollar, the 3-month SPN interest rate was 5.4 percent and the price of crude oil was US$63 per barrel.

Other macroeconomic assumptions that were also the result of discussions at the House of Representatives include lifting oil at 755 thousand barrels per day and lifting gas at 1.19 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Through this macroeconomic assumption, domestic revenues are set at Rp2,233.2 trillion consisting of tax revenue of Rp1,865.7 trillion, non-tax state revenues of Rp366.9 trillion and grants of Rp.5.5 trillion.

In terms of expenditure, state expenditure in the 2020 state budget is set at Rp2,540.4 trillion, consisting of Rp1,683.5 trillion in central government spending and transfers to the regions and village funds Rp856.9 trillion.

ANTARA