“The budget efficiency blocking at the beginning of the year was IDR 256.1 trillion. Up to today, we have unblocked IDR 168.5 trillion,” said Luky Alfirman, Director General of Budget at the Ministry of Finance, during a press conference for the September 2025 edition of the State Budget Watch (APBN KiTa) in Jakarta on Tuesday.
He explained that the released funds are being used to support government priority programs, including the expansion of rice fields, improvement of public school facilities, revitalization of madrasahs, and other key initiatives.
Additionally, the unblocked funds are allocated for operational costs and the core duties of ministries and agencies.
The Ministry of Finance reported that spending by ministries and agencies reached IDR 686 trillion as of August 31, 2025 — equivalent to 59.1 percent of the 2025 State Budget ceiling of IDR 1,160.1 trillion. Compared to the year-end outlook of IDR 1,090.8 trillion in the mid-year report, this represents 53.8 percent of expected spending.
However, realized spending declined by 2.5 percent compared to the same period last year. Luky attributed the slowdown to a lag between the pace of physical development and budget absorption.
To optimize disbursement, the Ministry has formed a monitoring team to oversee spending plans over the final three months of the year.
The Ministry is also providing support to ministries and agencies by identifying bottlenecks and helping them find solutions.
“In essence, we are jointly looking into the problems faced by various ministries and agencies and providing assistance,” Luky added.
As a reference, ministry and agency spending supports a wide range of government programs, including social assistance such as National Health Insurance Contribution Assistance (PBI JKN) for 96.7 million participants, the Family Hope Program (PKH) for 10 million families, the Basic Food Card program for 18.3 million recipients, as well as the Smart Indonesia Program (PIP) and Smart Indonesia Card for Higher Education (KIP Kuliah) benefiting 12.2 million students.
All disbursements are made based on data validation from the Unified National Social and Economic Database (DTSEN) and are aligned with the government’s priority programs.
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Translator: Imamatul, Azis Kurmala
Editor: M Razi Rahman
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