Budget drain must be plugged

Prof. Sumitro Djojohadikusumo's assessment that the magnitude of the drain on our national development budget is growing gives us reason for concern. In 1993, this leading Indonesian economist estimated the drain at around 30 percent, but the figure has since apparently grown. Such a disturbing development is certainly not the kind of trend we desire.

This vanishing of development funds is due not only to corruption and collusion. It is also due to inefficiencies in execution, among other things, due to what are termed as institutional carrying capacity and human resource deficiencies.

We are sure that our institutional carrying capacity has improved over the years, as has the quality of our human resources. The growing drain, therefore, must be due to a rise in corruption and collusion. Infrastructure development is a major spur to our economic growth, which is expected to be more than 7 percent a year in the coming years. As Prof. Sumitro said, however, that figure could be even higher if corruption and collusion could be eliminated, or at least curb

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta