We will continue to combine domestic and international financing
Jakarta (ANTARA) -
The government will continue to combine domestic and international financing to anticipate the possible increasing of the state budget deficit in 2019.

"We will continue to combine domestic and international financing," Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said at the Presidential Palace here on Thursday.

According to Indrawati, the widening deficit was due to the smaller growth in revenues compared to spending, which is being driven by the ongoing weakening of the global economy.

"Our businesses in the manufacturing sector have been under pressure, and the mining sector has drastically dropped. Here we saw the potential widening of the state budget deficit in 2019," she noted.

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Indrawati said she has issued a Ministerial Decree regarding the possible increase in the budget deficit.

The ministry has recorded the state budget deficit, as of August 31, at Rp199.1 trillion or 1.23 percent of GDP.

State revenues during the period were Rp1,189.3 trillion, or 54.9 percent of the target set at Rp2,165.1 trillion for the 2019 state budget. Budget spending has reached Rp1,388.3 trillion.

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The deficit in August 2019 was higher than the same period last year of Rp150.5 trillion, or 1.02 percent of GDP.

"There has been quite a sharp increase in the deficit of 32 percent compared to last year," the minister said earlier last month.

(INE)

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Translator: Agus Salim, Sri Haryati
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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