JAKARTA- Indonesia’s state budget tipped into 0.7 trillion rupiah ($45.19 million) deficit for the January-October period, having shown 67.7 trillion rupiah surplus in the first nine months, and was on course to meet its full year deficit target, the finance minister said on Friday.
While the budget deficit for the first 10 months was equivalent to just 0.003 percent of gross domestic product, the government expects the 2023 deficit to be below 2.3 percent of GDP, reducing it from 2.35 percent in 2022.
Total revenues for the 10 months were 2,240.1 trillion rupiah ($144.62 billion), up 2.8 percent on annual basis, while total spending was 2,240.8 trillion rupiah, down 4.7 percent , Sri Mulyani Indrawati told a press conference.
“So far our state-budget performance is still on track, if there’s deviation it will be a positive one. This is a momentum that we will continue to maintain,” she said.
The government typically spends a lot more in the fourth quarter because authorities wait until auditors check bills for subsidies and projects.
The ministry’s maintained its outlook that the budget deficit for 2023 would be below 2.3 percent of GDP due to higher-than-expected revenues.
State revenues for the 10 months were already at 90.9 percent of the full-year target, while spending in the same period was 73.2 percent of the total allocation in 2023, the minister’s presentation showed. -Reuters
