Hasto Highlights Impact of Budget Cuts to Remote Regions
Secretary General of PDI Perjuangan, Hasto Kristiyanto, has criticised the central government’s policy of cutting transfer budgets to regions amid an uncertain global situation. He assesses that this is instead causing major difficulties for various regions.
“Especially for areas in eastern Indonesia and 3T regions (frontier, outermost, and underdeveloped), whose conditions are now worsening,” Hasto said in Yogyakarta on Thursday, 9 April 2026.
According to Hasto, the budget cuts need to be evaluated. He believes the central government should encourage regional governments to have the capability to strengthen economic resilience in their areas.
Further, Hasto alluded to the instructions from PDI Perjuangan General Chair Megawati Soekarnoputri on the importance of national fiscal reconsolidation to strengthen regional resilience in facing the current multidimensional crisis. Those instructions were delivered by Megawati three days after the United States and Israel’s attack on Iran at the end of February 2026.
“In facing economic pressures, the government should evaluate the policy of cutting transfer funds so that regions still have the capability to maintain local economic resilience,” Hasto stated.
He then referred to the experience of Megawati Soekarnoputri’s leadership in 2004, which resolved a multidimensional crisis and paid off IMF debt through strict priority management.
According to Hasto, the central government must immediately implement strategic steps rather than extreme efficiency through regional budget cuts. Such as creating fair laws to attract investment, resolving land tenure issues, and simplifying licensing bureaucracy to increase state revenue without sacrificing allocations for regions.
PDI Perjuangan instead proposes fiscal resilience policies for the central and regional governments. “We must prepare everything progressively, including reducing unnecessary expenditures and converting them into productive spending so that economic resilience remains maintained,” Hasto said.
On the other hand, PDI Perjuangan assesses that regional innovations can still be a solution amid central budget cuts, as done in Yogyakarta City. “The Mayor of Yogyakarta (Hasto Wardoyo) has managed to increase Locally Generated Revenue (PAD) to reach Rp 1 trillion for the first time,” he said. “This is also evident in Jakarta under the leadership of Pramono Anung and Rano Karno, who boosted PAD through creative methods without burdening the people.”
Those innovative ideas from regional heads, Hasto said, must continue to be preserved.
On this occasion, Hasto also responded to public concerns about the potential rise in fuel prices and foreign diplomatic uncertainties. He then instructed all cadres and regional heads to focus on ensuring the public is not further burdened.
“We also encourage a movement to plant ten rice companion crops such as cassava and tubers as an anticipatory step for the food crisis due to war,” Hasto said.
He emphasised that the core of facing the crisis is prioritising the people’s production capabilities and ensuring regional governments still have sufficient fiscal space to facilitate economic movement in their respective areas.