Finance Minister Purbaya Denies Rumours, This is the Actual State Cash Balance!

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has once again denied the circulating issue that the state cash balance is increasingly depleting, namely to Rp120 trillion and only sufficient to finance state expenditure for two weeks.

Purbaya emphasised that the issue is entirely mistaken because it was created by merely calculating the government’s Budget Surplus (SAL) amount of Rp420 trillion, minus the SAL funds placed by the government in banking worth Rp300 trillion.

“The SAL is not used at all Rp420 trillion. So the SAL is Rp420. Not Rp120 trillion. Nothing has been used yet. Part of it has been transferred to the bank,” said Purbaya during the APBN KiTa press conference on Tuesday (6/5/2026).

Purbaya also stressed that the government’s money is at a sufficient level for the entire year.

This is because state finances continue to fluctuate. Namely from various types of state revenues such as taxes, duties, and excise.

“So like this, government money can come from taxes, can be spent, there can also be financing later. We set the average cash level throughout the year at a sufficient level,” he said.

“This is our strategy which is sufficient to ensure that our cash is adequate and we will never run short of cash,” he added.

According to Purbaya, the total SAL placed in banking does not mean that the government’s reserve funds have disappeared, but rather it is merely transferring accounts from those that have been idle at Bank Indonesia (BI) to the banking sector.

These funds can be withdrawn by the government at any time because they are in the form of callable deposits. The callable deposit, as meant by the Finance Minister, refers to a deposit savings product with a very short term—usually 3 to 30 days—that can be withdrawn at any time.

“We just place it properly in the bank, rotate it so that the economy can thrive,” he said.