Budget books surplus of Rp 2.9t in Q1
Budget books surplus of Rp 2.9t in Q1
Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government during the first quarter booked a budget
surplus of about Rp 2.9 trillion (US$326 million) instead of a Rp
7.6 trillion deficit as had been forecast in the budget.
During the quarter, domestic revenue and grants contributed
some Rp 69.2 trillion (94.3 percent of the target) while
expenditure stood at Rp 66.2 trillion (81.9 percent), Ministry of
Finance spokesman Maurin Sitorus said on Tuesday.
"On the revenue side, Rp 57.1 trillion came from taxation and
Rp 12.1 trillion from other sectors," he explained.
Revenue from income tax on the oil and gas sector, value added
tax and luxury tax exceeded the January-March target, while that
from income tax on the non-oil and gas sector, as well as customs
duties, were below the target because of losses suffered by
corporate taxpayers.
In the non-tax sectors, Maurin said, oil and gas revenues were
lower than the first quarter target due to the state oil and gas
company Pertamina's need to secure domestic fuel supplies in the
wake of the crisis in Iraq.
On the spending side, expenditure on routine activities,
development projects and local administration financing
respectively reached Rp 33.3 trillion (76.1 percent of the
target), Rp 3.9 trillion (73.6 percent) and Rp 29 trillion (91.4
percent).
The relatively low level of routine expenditure was caused by
a delay in the payment of civil service salary increases until
April 1, 2003.
The government received Rp 3 trillion from the sale of assets
by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) but it had to
repay Rp 6.1 trillion in respect of government bonds maturing
during the January-March period.
In the same period, the government received Rp 2.4 trillion in
foreign loans while its repayment of foreign debt principal,
other than the debt principal and interest that had been
rescheduled under the Paris Club III scheme, reached Rp 4.1
trillion.
Under the scheme, the government was allowed to defer the
payment of 50 percent of interest worth $723 million previously
agreed on by the Paris Club II creditors' meeting.