Budget revision still unclear<\/p>\n
Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Despite a thawing in the once icy relationship between the
\ngovernment and the House of Representatives, the administration's
\nplan to revise several assumptions in the 2005 state budget could
\nstill face challenges from legislators.<\/p>\n
House finance commission chairman Paskah Suzetta said on
\nFriday that the government should not be in such a rush to make
\nthe revisions.<\/p>\n
\"We realize the need to revise several assumptions, like the
\noil price assumption, but the government should try its best to
\nfirst meet the targets in the budget,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The previous Megawati administration had drafted the budget on
\nthe basis that the new House members and the administration
\nelected in the 2004 elections might not have enough time to
\nredraft it from scratch within the two months left before the
\nstart of the new fiscal year in January.<\/p>\n
The budget projects economic growth of 5.4 percent, a rise
\nfrom 4.8 percent this year, and an inflation rate of 5.6 percent.
\nThe deficit is projected to decline to 0.8 percent of gross
\ndomestic product from 1.2 percent this year based on an oil price
\nof US$24 per barrel.<\/p>\n
Several Cabinet members have suggested the need to revise the
\nbudget, saying that the recent rise in global oil prices to up to
\n$50 had made the budget targets unrealistic.<\/p>\n
Paskah, from the Golkar Party, further said that it would be
\nbetter for the government to work based on the budget and to
\nundertake a thorough view of the country's economic progress
\nbefore proposing budget revisions.<\/p>\n
\"It would be better if they (the revisions) were carried out
\nsome time in July,\" he said, referring to the month in which the
\nadministration usually consults with legislators on whether
\nrevisions of the current budget are needed.<\/p>\n
However, legislator Dradjad Wibowo, from the National Mandate
\nParty (PAN), said that the government should revise the 2005
\nbudget as soon as possible, unless it felt comfortable with it.<\/p>\n
\"The ball is now in the government's hands,\" he said. \"They
\nshould propose the revisions now so the House can discuss them
\nbefore the budget comes into effect in January.\"<\/p>\n
Dradjad, who is also an economist at the Institute for the
\nDevelopment of Economics and Finance (Indef), maintained that the
\nrevision of the budget was necessary to rectify a number of
\nflawed assumptions.<\/p>\n
\"We will present our arguments for the revisions and push for
\na vote if needed,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The House is split between the Nationhood Coalition (Golkar,
\nPDI-P, PDS, and the PKB) and the pro-government People's
\nCoalition (the Democratic Party, PAN, PKS, and PPP).<\/p>\n
The government and the House have lately been involved in
\nseveral political stand-offs, but reached a compromise when both
\nrecently agreed to extend the civil emergency in Aceh.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, economist Pande Raja Silalahi from the Center for
\nStrategic and International Studies (CSIS), said that revisions
\nwere a must, whatever the situation between the government and
\nthe House.<\/p>\n
\"The new administration has its owns programs -- setting up
\nnew ministries and converting fuel subsidies into direct
\ndevelopment funds -- and its own budgetary needs,\" he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/budget-revision-still-unclear-1447893297",
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