President Jokowi Asks Ministries To Maximize Capital Expenditure

Jakarta (Antara Megapolitan) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has asked ministries/state institutions to maximize capital expenditure so that the benefit of development spending felt by the people so far would become bigger.

"(Goods and personnel) expenditures which are useless should be crossed out and be included in the capital expenditure," the president said at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday.

He stated that efforts to maximize the capital expenditure can be made through budget retrenchment.

"I had called on for efforts to save budget not just this year but the previous year too," he noted.

The aim of the retrenchment is to make capital expenditure bigger. This is done by shifting expenditure on goods and personnel, which are less useful, to capital expenditure.

"Therefore, I had instructed all ministers and government agency leaders to check which one is useless and include it in the capital expenditure," he remarked.

Jokowi revealed that despite being shifted (from goods and personnel) to capital, the expenditure will remain to be used in the ministries or institutions concerned.

"It will not be used in other ministries/institutions, it will only be shifted to the capital expenditure," he asserted.

Earlier, Jokowi, while opening a cabinet plenary session that discussed the Indicative Ceiling of Draft Budget 2018, on Tuesday, (April 4), emphasized the need for retrenchment and budget effectiveness of the ministries and state institutions.

"This has been going on for years, so please check it again. I think there are a lot of expenditures that could be cut or be saved, which could then be shifted to the capital expenditure," he concluded.

EDITED BY: Bustanuddin.