House approves bill on 1995-1996 state budget

House approves bill on 1995-1996 state budget

JAKARTA (JP): The Budgetary Commission of the House of Representatives (DPR) yesterday approved a bill on the government's 1995-1996 budget, which calls for an 11.9 percent increase in both revenue and spending.

The bill on the 1995-1996 national budget, proposed by President Soeharto to the House in early January, will formally be approved by the House in a plenary session tomorrow.

At the final sitting of the Budgetary Commission yesterday, its four factions -- Golongan Karya (Golkar), the United Development Party (PPP), the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and the Armed Forces -- called on the government to closely safeguard the implementation of the tight budget.

Under the draft budget for 1995-1996, both government revenue and spending are expected to rise to Rp 78.02 trillion ($36.28 billion) from Rp 69.74 trillion budgeted for this fiscal year, which ends next month.

Besides tightening its control over state revenue and spending, the PDI called on the government to give serious attention to the problem of bad debts in the banking industry.

Marwan Adam, a PDI spokesman, said that the bad debt problem, in both private and state banks, should be solved through existing legal procedures.

The financial circumstances of large debtors who are suspected of being unable to repay their loans according to the existing schedules should be closely monitored, he said.

"If necessary, the government should appoint an independent company to take over the management of the debtor firms," he said.

Sa'di Zen Nur, a spokesman for the Moslem-dominated PPP, called on the government to closely monitor prices in an attempt to counter stronger inflationary pressure in the 1995-1996 fiscal year, which begins in April.

The PPP said the inflation rate, which reached 1.16 percent in January, could further rise in the following months if stricter measures were not taken to control prices.

Sa'di said that the buying spree taking place before the Idul Fitri holiday and the increase in the salaries of civil servants and members of the Armed Forces would automatically cause prices to rise.

"It is, therefore, necessary to punish those who raise prices to unreasonable levels," he said. (hen)