Purbaya assures KDMP manager salary payments will not increase state budget deficit

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has assured that the payment of salaries for managers of the Merah Putih Village Cooperative (KDMP) will not add to the deficit of the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN). During a media briefing at the Ministry of Finance office in Jakarta on Monday, Purbaya explained that the salary payment scheme for KDMP managers will be implemented gradually, with the funding source for the first two years coming from the APBN. However, he stated that the funds will come from previously available budget positions, not by opening new budget allocations. “We ultimately have to pay for two years. That will come from part of the Kopdes funds that have not yet been used. We will put it there first. So, there is no new addition to the APBN, no new deficit addition. Because it has already been allocated there,” Purbaya said. “The Himbara financing instalment is Rp40 trillion, meaning not all of it has been used, so it might be used from there,” he clarified. Previously, the Director General of Financial Balance at the Ministry of Finance, Askolani, explained that his office is preparing the APBN as a funding source to meet the salary payments for KDMP employees in the initial stage. The scheme is designed to serve as a bridge for the cooperative’s operations before it obtains its own income.