Budget drain must be plugged

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