Anies Baswedan Says 50pct Budget Used Up for COVID-19 Handling
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23 April 2020 14:47 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said the 2020 Regional Budget has dropped by over half due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Anies predicted that out of the total Jakarta budget at Rp87.9 trillion, 53 percent would decrease. “Our budget experiences contraction of up to 53 percent,” said Anies during a regional development planning forums (Musrenbang) meeting via teleconference on Thursday, April 23.
Thus, he mentioned that the current regional budget is calculated at 43 percent, given the declining value of the tax revenue, which is the largest source of the city’s profit.
Anies admitted that many economic activities were hindered during the coronavirus pandemic. “When the economic activity goes down, the tax payment also goes down, leading to the decrease in Jakarta’s revenue,” he remarked.
The former education and culture minister added that the pandemic would also cause an impact on the preparation of the capital’s 2020 regional budget. “Therefore, in the 2021 draft budget, we have to be realistic that Jakarta requires time to have its budget return to normal,” Anies Baswedan said.
Additionally, Jakarta has reallocated the budget for coronavirus mitigation. Based on the data from the Home Affairs Ministry's Directorate-General for Regional Finance, the city’s budget for the pandemic handling has reached Rp10 trillion.
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