NTB Government: IDR 431 Billion Budget Surplus Due to Administrative Hurdles
Mataram (ANTARA) - The West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Provincial Government has confirmed that the Budget Financing Surplus (SILPA) for the 2025 fiscal year, amounting to IDR 431 billion, resulted from administrative obstacles in the payment processes of several regional agencies.
NTB Provincial Government Spokesperson Ahsanul Khalik stated that the high SILPA was not due to low budget absorption or the failure of regional development programmes. “The root of the problem lies in financial administrative governance, not in the execution of development,” he said in a statement in Mataram on Tuesday.
Ahsanul explained that most development work had been completed, but payments to project providers could not be made because the administrative documents did not yet fulfil all the requirements mandated by legislation. Financial management officers are not permitted to make payments if the administrative requirements and supporting documents are incomplete.
“Forcing disbursement merely to increase spending realisation could lead to far more serious legal consequences than delaying payment until all requirements are met,” Ahsanul said.
SILPA is a fiscal position indicator showing the difference between realised revenue and financing receipts and realised expenditure and financing outlays at the end of the fiscal year. According to Ahsanul, a large SILPA reflects outstanding payment obligations for work that has been completed but could not be settled within the same fiscal year.
The payment obligations will be promptly settled through the 2026 Regional Budget (APBD) by utilising the fiscal space available from the SILPA. He acknowledged that the IDR 431 billion SILPA serves as serious evaluation material for the NTB Provincial Government to improve financial administrative governance.
The NTB government is focusing improvements on enhancing human resource capacity, strengthening internal controls, cash management, and coordination between regional agencies so that similar administrative delays do not recur. “Evaluating regional agencies that are less meticulous in administrative governance is the right step to prevent the recurrence of similar problems,” Ahsanul concluded.