House passes law on revision of current budget

House passes law on revision of current budget

JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives passed a bill into
law yesterday on the upward revision of the 1994/1995 state
budget, with two of its four factions calling on the government
to be more explicit in its project financing.

The two factions, the Moslem-controlled United Development
Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), are
unhappy with the current procedures, which they believe do not
acknowledge the House's budgetary right as granted by the
Constitution of 1945.

Ni Gusti Ayu Eka Sukmadewi, a spokesman for the PDI faction,
said during a House session that the government has not
adequately explained expenditures for its programs and
activities.

"Whether the additional expenditures are made for programs of
top priority or not, the House is never informed. This is
evidence that the government does not respect the House's
budgetary right," Gusti Ayu said.

A. Nana Djuhana Sutarya of the PPP faction said the current
procedures, which do not involve the House's ten commissions when
deliberating a bill, are too simplistic and designed as
formalities only.

He called on the other House factions and the government to
jointly change the current procedures. "If the problems arise
from the House's own rules, let's change them -- they haven't
been changed for 13 years."

The other two factions -- the Armed Forces (ABRI) and the
ruling Golongan Karya (Golkar) -- did not specifically mention
the procedures in their presentations yesterday.

Approval

All of the four House factions, however, unanimously approved
the changes made by the government to the 1994-95 budget, which
will end this month.

The changes cover the government's routine and development
expenditures as well as its total revenues projected for 1994-95
budget.

The total state revenues are projected to surpass the original
target by 3.7 percent to reach Rp 72.35 trillion.

Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad said the unexpectedly
higher receipts from oil and gas exports as well as various
domestic taxes, levies and foreign aid have amounted to higher
state revenues.

Indonesia's crude oil exports for this fiscal year recorded an
average price of $16.53 per barrel, well above the budget
estimate of $16.

The volume of crude oil exports is also expected to surpass
the target of 1.53 million barrels to reach 1.6 million barrels.

Revenues from taxes and levies are projected to exceed the
original estimate of Rp 61.36 trillion by 2.7 percent, while
those from foreign aid are likely to surpass the budget target by
9.7 percent to Rp 10.98 trillion.

On the expenditure side, the government's routine spending is
expected to surpass the target by two percent to reach Rp 43.17
trillion (US$19.6 billion).

Minister Mar'ie explained that the higher-than-projected
routine expenditures were mainly a result of higher personnel
spending.

The government's development spending, which primarily covers
foreign debt servicing and installments, is also projected to
exceed the target by 2.5 percent to Rp 18.42 trillion.

Due to the changes, the 1994-95 budget, which previously
balanced at Rp 69.74 trillion, expects to savor a surplus of Rp
10.4 billion. (rid)