Budget Cuts for Ministries, Purbaya: The Ministers Keep Submitting Requests...

Finance Minister (Menkeu) Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa will cut budgets for several ministries and state institutions. According to him, many ministries and state institutions continue to submit budget requests in relatively large amounts. From this, the government needs to adjust budgets for its ministries so that national spending remains on a safe path. “Basically, we will cut budgets; I will limit new budgets, don’t submit them anymore. The ministers keep submitting, tens of trillions; we will cut those, and adjust the others,” Purbaya said, quoted from Kompas.com on Saturday (21/3/2026). He also calculated that the cuts will not affect the running of the economy. Purbaya will monitor this himself. “But this won’t affect the economy. We will also ensure the economy remains stable. I monitor that continuously,” he said. Initially, Purbaya proposed a 10% cut, but the response he received was requests for additional budgets. “We’re calculating for all ministries. Initially, we proposed they submit (efficiency) 10%, but when I offered it to them, they didn’t cut; they kept adding. So I said I’ll cut, then they can adjust. But the percentage is still under discussion,” he explained. In addition to ministry budget cuts, Purbaya estimates Indonesia’s economic growth in the first quarter to reach 5.6-5.7%. “Economic growth could be 5.6-5.7%, a rough estimate. That’s quite good, amidst the current global turmoil,” he explained. The government has been absorbing the impact of global turmoil so it doesn’t greatly affect the public.