Jakarta (ANTARA) - President-elect Prabowo Subianto has pledged to keep the State Budget (APBN) deficit below 3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati informed on Monday. “We have conveyed this to Mr. Prabowo, and he has expressed his commitment to keeping the deficit below 3 percent,” she said at a press conference on the fundamental economic conditions and the Draft of the 2025 State Budget (RAPBN 2025) in Jakarta.

She also assured that the transitional APBN prepared by the Joko Widodo (Jokowi)-Ma'ruf Amin administration is continuing to be synchronized and coordinated with the next administration.

The current government has presented the Macroeconomic Framework and Fiscal Policy Guidelines (KEM PPKF) to the synchronization task force for president- and vice president-elect Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka.

The framework covers several macroeconomic targets for the 2025 fiscal year that have been agreed upon by the government and the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives (Banggar DPR), including economic growth of 5.1–5.5 percent and an exchange rate of Rp15,300–Rp15,900 per US dollar.

The targets also include keeping the interest rate at 6.9–7.2 percent for 10-year Government Securities (SBN), oil prices at US$75 to US$85 per barrel, oil production at 580 thousand–605 thousand barrels per day, and natural gas production at 1.003 million–1.047 million barrels per day.

The development indicators covered by the guidelines include poverty rates, the Gini ratio, the open unemployment rate, the human capital index, and exchange rates for farmers and fishermen.

The targeted poverty rate is 7–8 percent, with the extreme poverty rate at zero percent. The targeted Gini ratio is 0.379–0.382, open unemployment rate 4.5–5.0 percent, and human capital index 0.56. Meanwhile, the exchange rates for farmers and fishermen are targeted to be kept at 115–120 and 105–106, respectively.

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In addition to the 2.29–2.82 percent deficit relative to the GDP, the KEM-PPKF has also laid down fiscal targets for the 2025 APBN, including for state revenue (12.30–12.36 percent of the GDP), state expenditure (14.59–15.18 percent of the GDP), and primary balance deficit (0.15-0.61 percent of the GDP).

All the agreed-upon targets will be ratified during the DPR's plenary session on July 9, 2024.

“These are agreements between the current government and the DPR, but what has been agreed upon for the 2025 budget will be implemented by the incoming administration,” Indrawati informed.

The Finance Ministry will report to Banggar DPR in early July on the state budget implementation for the first half of 2024 and end-of-year projections, which will serve as the basis for drafting the 2025 APBN.

“We are coordinating the entire RAPBN preparation process with the team appointed by the President-elect, and all discussions (with the DPR) have been reported,” Indrawati said.

After the July 9 session, the ministry will draft the 2025 State Budget Law, which will be presented by President Widodo during the Annual Session of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) on August 16.

Indrawati reiterated the current government’s commitment to continuing communication, coordination, and synchronization on budget preparation with the President-elect.

"These steps are taken to ensure there are no fundamental differences between the draft budget prepared by President Jokowi’s government and the priority programs to be implemented by the new administration," she added.

The goal is to provide clarity and avoid "speculation about the political process and budget formulation," she emphasized.

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Translator: Anton Santoso
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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