With strong household consumption, Indonesia is expected to be able to maintain economic resilience amid the slowing economy of several partner countries, such as China, Japan, and the European Union countries, he said.
"(It is) because what will be Indonesia's strength amidst the current demographic bonus is large household consumption. Hence, consumption must be maintained, especially in the middle class, through accommodative fiscal policies," Yudhistira told ANTARA here on Thursday.
He advised the government to not make a policy of increasing taxes quite high and targeting the middle class in terms of tariffs.
Moreover, there is a need to continually improve subsidy and social assistance policies to serve as a shock absorber or to withstand external economic shocks.
"That is important to maintain," he stressed.
Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati had earlier stated that the State Budget (APBN) would continue to be used as a shock absorber to protect the public, both from the risk of a global economic slowdown and the domestic economic situation.
Social assistance is one of the interventions of the APBN in an effort to maintain the people's purchasing power amid the volatility in food prices wherein the budget is included in the social protection program along with subsidy policies.
For 2024, the budget for social protection programs is set at Rp493.5 trillion.
Sri Mulyani stated that APBN's intervention to control volatile food prices was not only carried out through social assistance programs but also through the food security budget recorded at Rp104.2 trillion last year and Rp114.3 trillion this year.
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Translator: Imamatul Silfia, Katriana
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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