"It is true that we must make every effort to increase budget absorption particularly capital spending," he said here on Tuesday.
He said the capital spending in the first eight months of 2011 was also lower than the same period last year when the figure reached 27.9 percent.
The lower-than-expected capital spending had become the center of the government`s attention because it was related to the development of infrastructure projects, he said.
Moreover, the construction of development projects financed under a government-private cooperation scheme did not run as expected, he said.
He made it clear that the low capital spending was because many contractors who had completed development projects had not applied for payments for the projects while the government had no problem with the process of disbursing budget funds.
The contractors used their own funds to finance the projects, he said. "We will always try to maintain our good payment system. So we have no problem with our financial capacity to pay for the projects," he said.
He said a total of 22 ministries and government agencies were still discussing terms of reference with the House of Representatives (DPR) to use budget funds while in fact the revised 2011 state budget had been approved.
The 22 ministries and government agencies included those receiving a great chunk of budget allocations this year, he said. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
