Govt urged to include tariff policy in budget

JAKARTA (JP): The government should include proposed utility charges in the draft state budget, members of the House of Representatives said yesterday.

Tadjuddin Noer Said, a member of the House Budgetary Commission from the dominant Golkar faction said such a procedure was important to ensure the tariffing was fair and reasonable.

If the charges stated in the budget were approved by the House, the government should not be allowed to change them until the following fiscal year, he said.

"If the government plans to adjust the tariffs, it should wait until the next budget year," he said when commenting on the government's 1997/1998 draft budget.

He said that it was now time for the government to adopt such a policy to create stability in the economy and to guarantee that any increases are made for the benefit of the economy and the people.

"The government's tariff policy is currently uncertain. Today it announces an increase in telephone charges, for example. Another day it will announce an increase in pure water tariffs, or electricity or maybe fuel oil," he said.

"Why doesn't the government integrate these announcements and confine them to when the President unveils the draft state budget?" he suggested.

On the country's balance of payments, Hamzah Haz, a member of the Budgetary Commission from the United Development Party, said that the government's decision to focus on reducing the current account deficit is the right step to take.

"The deficit has become a structural problem that needs a comprehensive solution," he said.

He cited that most of the deficit was contributed by the services sector, particularly transportation. "We need to conduct a comprehensive study of the problem so that we can take the right steps to tackle it," he said.

He suggested that the government should further deregulate the shipping sector with a view to reducing the current account deficit in the sector.

He also criticized the export and import scheme which did not favor Indonesia. "Currently, the export and import scheme is to Indonesia's disadvantage. If we export our products, we can only get payments based on F.O.B (freight on board), but if we import foreign goods we have to pay the costs up to the latest destination," he said.

Commenting on the government's rural electrification program in 1997/1998, Iskandar Mandji, a Golkar member of House Commission VI for industry, mining, manpower and investment said that it should be accompanied by an industrialization program in rural areas to prevent villagers becoming too consumerist.

Simon P. Morin, a Golkar member of House Commission VII for finance, trade and cooperatives, urged the government not to focus only on the most developed areas in western Indonesia but to expand development activities in the least developed areas in the eastern provinces.

"This is one way to arrest the widening economic gap between the western and eastern parts of Indonesia," he said, adding that besides improving infrastructure, the government should also give special treatment to private investors in the eastern part of Indonesia.

A.A. Baramuli, another Golkar member of House Commission VII, said he was concerned about the increase of civil servant spending from Rp 27 trillion (US$11.6 billion) this fiscal year to Rp 32 trillion during the next fiscal year.

"The Rp 32 trillion is almost 30 percent of the total state budget. We're very concerned about this, particularly if we compare it with the development budget of Rp 38 trillion. Don't tell me that all the funds will be used for routine spending," he said. (bnt/pwn)