Budget Efficiency: Tito Asks Regional Heads to Cut Official Trips

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) Tito Karnavian has ordered all regional heads to cut official trips for the sake of budget efficiency.

“I have been saying this for a long time, for efficiency, regional heads, and I will emphasise again efficiency, especially budget efficiency. Especially unnecessary official trips, I have been saying this for a long time. So the money should be directed to pro-people programmes,” said Tito when met at the Palace, Jakarta, on Wednesday (25/3/2026).

For example, like turning off lights and AC in the office if not in use.

According to him, employees should not leave the room with the AC and lights on.

“During the Covid era, they were required to keep their phones on. After that, they registered. At 7.30, they did online attendance, and then the phone must be on. From there, the duty officer can know their location, the GPS must be turned on,” explained Tito.

“So if the location is known, if they are out and about, it will be detected like that,” he added.

Previously, the Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa emphasised that the government would cut the budgets of ministries and agencies.

Purbaya assessed that so far, many ministries have continued to request additional budgets in large amounts, so the government needs to make adjustments to keep state spending under control.

Nevertheless, Purbaya assured that this budget efficiency policy would not disrupt economic growth.

The government, he said, would still ensure that economic activities run well.