Compared to the same period last year the budget absorption in the first nine months of 2012 was on the increase, the ministry`s director general of treasury, Agus Supriyanto, said in a written statement issued on Tuesday.
He said capital spending in the January-September 2012 period was lower than personnel and social spending.
The tender process for the procurement of goods and services posed common problems for each ministry and state institute, he noted.
The revision of the tender process under Presidential Regulation No. 70 of 2012 was completed only in the third quarter so that it had no significant impact on budget absorption, he said.
As usual, the budget absorption will increase significantly in the fourth quarter, he said.
Earlier, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Hatta Rajasa said the Indonesian economy will face many challenges, either internal or external, in the fourth quarter.
The internal challenges include low budget absorption, he said.
In the year to October 23, 2012, budget absorption by government agencies reached Rp654.91 trillion, accounting for 61.1 percent of the ceiling of the government spending set at Rp1,069.53 trillion for 2012, he said.
"Frankly speaking, I am not happy with this. We earlier hoped the government`s spending would significantly contribute to the third-quarter growth but it went beyond our expectation," he said. (*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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