Avtur Price Hike Prompts Indef to Suggest More Adaptive Hajj Cost Reformulation
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) suggests that the government reformulate the Hajj cost structure to be more adaptive to global fluctuations, including the increase in avtur prices.
Head of Indef’s Macroeconomics and Finance Centre, M Rizal Taufikurahman, opines that the rise in avtur prices requires a response through a more resilient systemic reform approach, rather than seeking budget space to cover shortfalls.
“Without this shift, policies that appear pro-pilgrim in the short term risk burdening the fiscal system and being unsustainable in the long term,” Rizal said when contacted by ANTARA in Jakarta on Friday.
To make Hajj costs more resistant, Rizal recommends that the government encourage long-term avtur and airline contracts.
This approach is believed to dampen price volatility, open up competition among service providers for more efficient costs, and optimise the Hajj Fund as a professional and transparent buffer.
Rizal also reminds the government to be more cautious in deciding to use the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) to cover expenditure shortfalls due to economic volatility.
The government previously announced plans to cover an additional budget of Rp1.77 trillion for Hajj flight needs using the APBN.
According to Rizal, the APBN is currently facing simultaneous pressures from energy subsidies sensitive to oil prices, slowing revenues, and increasing social spending needs.
Therefore, even if the government implements budget efficiencies, the funds should be directed to support productive spending needs and not merely relabelled budgets.
“The avtur increase is not a one-off event, but part of the structural global energy volatility. If every cost shock is directly covered by the APBN, the state implicitly takes over operational risks that should be managed within the Hajj financing system itself,” he stated.
Previously, President Prabowo Subianto announced that the cost per Indonesian Hajj candidate for 2026 would remain reduced by Rp2 million, despite the avtur price hike.
In response to the global avtur price increase impacting flight tariffs, the government plans to provide financing support for 220,000 affected Hajj candidates amounting to Rp1.77 trillion.
Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, when confirmed by reporters at the Presidential Palace Complex in Jakarta on Wednesday (8/4), said the additional budget would come from APBN reserves, which are the result of efficiencies calculated over one year.
These efficiency results, said Purbaya, can be used for positions that need it, one of which is the additional Hajj flight costs that have risen due to the surge in avtur prices.
With this budget, the government does not burden Hajj pilgrims with additional fares.