Trade Minister Plays Down Concerns Over Further Budget Cuts for 2027

Minister of Trade Budi Santoso has revealed that the indicative budget ceiling for the Ministry of Trade for 2027 is potentially lower than the previous year’s allocation. He stressed, however, that deliberations are still underway and the figure is not yet final.

He made the remarks after attending a working meeting with House of Representatives Commission VI at the Parliamentary Complex in Jakarta on Wednesday. The meeting’s agenda was to discuss the Ministry’s Work Plan and Budget for the 2027 fiscal year.

“It was only a discussion on the indicative budget ceiling for 2027. So there is no problem, it has been discussed. The process must indeed be discussed in Commission VI, that’s all,” Budi said when met after the meeting. He declined to disclose the exact indicative ceiling figure but confirmed a decrease compared to the 2026 allocation. He emphasised that the budget discussion process will continue to the next stage. “Yes, there is a slight decrease, but this is not finished yet. There are still more discussions, this is only indicative. In principle, we will continue to optimise the existing programmes,” he said.

For context, the Ministry of Trade’s base budget ceiling for 2026 was set at IDR 1.4 trillion, a figure jointly determined by the Minister of Finance and the Minister for National Development Planning. If the 2027 budget turns out to be lower, the trend of declining budgets for the ministry will continue for the fifth consecutive year.

During a prior working meeting with Commission VI in September 2025, Budi had disclosed that the ministry’s budget allocation had been shrinking continuously from 2023 through to 2026, with accumulated cuts reaching hundreds of billions of rupiah. “In total, when compared to the 2023 allocation, the Ministry of Trade’s 2026 budget ceiling has decreased by IDR 871.88 billion, or 38.37 percent,” Budi stated at that time.

The minister noted that the downward trend comes amid rising operational spending needs, which has left increasingly limited fiscal room for non-operational expenditure, including programmes supporting trade sector performance targets. Despite the potential for further cuts in 2027, the ministry has pledged to continue optimising its planned programmes to ensure national trade targets can still be pursued.