TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The plan to add energy subsidies (BBM) still needs to be discussed with the House of Representatives (DPR). Nevertheless, the option for the 2018 State Budget (APBN) revision is not a priority.
Adriyanto, Head of Macroeconomic Policy Center for Fiscal Policy Agency (BKF) of the Finance Ministry, said that the fiscal authority is currently waiting for recommendations from law firms on which mechanism to take.
“We are still discussing the legal mechanisms and I still cannot tell much about this,” Adriyanto said on Tuesday, March 6.
The addition of energy subsidies became the government’s choice as a response of the price rising on crude oil prices which in January has risen almost 30% of assumptions in the 2018 APBN set at US$ 48 per barrel. Adriyanto denied that the plan is associated with the five-year political moment that will be held next year.
He ensured the decision other than as a response to skyrocketing ICP prices, also very closely related to maintain the increasing purchasing power.
“The BBM addition plan is not related to the political year, but the government wants to keep people’s purchasing power,” he explained.
BISNIS.COM