Prabowo: Rp1,000 Trillion Lost to Budget Leakages

President Prabowo Subianto has highlighted the high level of state budget leakage, which he estimates at more than Rp1,000 trillion based on government calculations. Speaking at the 28th anniversary celebration of the National Awakening Party (PKB) in Jakarta on Thursday evening, Prabowo noted that several economic experts consider the Indonesian economy inefficient. He said this is reflected in the country’s Incremental Capital Output Ratio (ICOR), which stands at 6.5. Prabowo explained that ICOR measures the amount of capital required to generate an additional unit of economic output; a higher figure indicates lower efficiency. “ICOR means Incremental Capital Output Ratio. It means if we want to become richer by 1 dollar or 1 rupiah, we have to spend 6.5. Other countries can get 1 dollar by spending only 4 dollars. A difference of 2 dollars. Two out of six, that’s a third. This means 30 per cent of our wealth is leaking,” he said. According to Prabowo, with the state budget at around US$270 billion or Rp3,700 trillion, a 30 per cent leakage equates to more than Rp1,000 trillion lost. “This is what I am stopping,” he added. The President stressed that the government is working to close various loopholes that have caused budget leakages, including reforming the procurement of goods and services, which he said has often been marred by price mark-ups. He claimed that these efficiency measures have already resulted in savings of Rp300 trillion within the first few months of his administration. The saved funds, he said, are being allocated to priority programmes such as the Free Nutritious Meals initiative, basic infrastructure development, and school rehabilitation. “We have already saved Rp300 trillion. This is what we are using for the free meals programme, for the bridges mentioned earlier. We will build five thousand bridges by December 2026,” Prabowo stated. He also criticised media coverage, suggesting that some outlets focus more on the government’s shortcomings than on its achievements, such as the renovation of 27,000 schools.