House approves revised state budget<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): After nine days of debate, the House of
\nRepresentatives finally approved late on Friday the 2001 state
\nbudget revision proposed by the government.<\/p>\n
The revised state budget was set at Rp 340.32 trillion
\n(US$25.45 billion), compared to Rp 315.76 trillion set under the
\noriginal January-December budget.<\/p>\n
The approval came at the conclusion of the debate session
\nbetween the House task force and the government.<\/p>\n
The government proposed the revision of the current state
\nbudget following the recent sharp plunge in the value of the
\nrupiah against the U.S. dollar and rising domestic interest
\nrates.<\/p>\n
The budget revision includes several fiscal measures such as
\nraising fuel prices and electricity rates to help maintain the
\nbudget deficit at a reasonable level of 3.7 percent of gross
\ndomestic product (GDP) or the equivalent of Rp 54.32 trillion.<\/p>\n
Earlier last week, the House rejected the government plan to
\nraise value added tax (VAT) to 12.5 percent from 10 percent.<\/p>\n
Under the revised budget, the assumed exchange rate of the
\nrupiah has been adjusted to Rp 9,600 per dollar (compared to Rp
\n7,800 under the original plan), inflation rate 9.3 percent
\n(originally 7.2 percent), economic growth 3.5 percent (originally
\n5 percent), and the interest rate of Bank Indonesia 3-month SBI
\npromissory notes 15 percent (formerly 11.5 percent).<\/p>\n
The government had expected the International Monetary Fund
\nwould immediately send its review team to Jakarta following the
\ncompletion of the budget talks with the House.<\/p>\n
The visit of the IMF review team would pave the way for the
\ndisbursement of the next IMF loan tranche to the country. The
\nIMF had delayed the loan disbursement late last year.<\/p>\n
But IMF Jakarta representative John Dodsworth was quoted by
\nReuters as saying that the IMF had no immediate plans to send the
\nreview mission to Jakarta to assess the country's economic reform
\nprogram.<\/p>\n
\"There is no schedule for a team to come out,\" he said.
\n(rei\/jsk)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/house-approves-revised-state-budget-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}