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.