President Calls Airlangga and Purbaya to Discuss Budget Efficiency

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – President Prabowo Subianto summoned several ministers, including Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto, Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, and Minister of Investment and Downstreaming Rosan Roeslani, to the Presidential Palace Complex in Jakarta on Thursday afternoon (19/3/2026).

Airlangga stated that one of the matters to be reported to President Prabowo in the limited meeting concerns the efficiency of ministries and institutions. “Yesterday, we already held a coordination meeting regarding efficiency. That is one of the things to be reported,” Airlangga said in response to a journalist’s question shortly after arriving at the Presidential Palace Complex.

He did not elaborate further on the efficiency of ministries and institutions in question. However, he revealed that the government is also calculating schemes for work-from-anywhere (WFA) arrangements as part of those efficiency steps. “That is also something we are calculating,” he said.

Meanwhile, Purbaya stated that the limited meeting with President Prabowo will discuss the state of the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN). “Yes, we anticipate how much subsidies there might be, what the APBN condition is like. That is what needs to be anticipated. But I don’t know the details of the meeting,” he said.

Regarding efficiency, Purbaya said his side is preparing steps to cut ministry and institution budgets by considering the postponement of certain expenditures deemed to have no quick impact on economic growth.

Budget efficiency, he said, will be directed towards expenditures that can be temporarily postponed, such as meetings considered ineffective. “(For example) all sorts. Unclear meetings, or policies whose impact is slow or not significant on economic growth,” he said.