Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Two pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates for the 2024 presidential election, namely Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar and Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka, promised to use debt carefully if they become leaders of Indonesia in the next five years.
Anies-Muhaimin, in the vision, mission and work program document “A Fair, Prosperous Indonesia for All”, did not even hesitate to promise to maintain the ratio of debt to gross domestic product (GDP) at 30% at the end of his reign, namely in 2029.
“Manage state debt responsibly to maintain fiscal sustainability and maintain the debt to GDP ratio of less than 30.0% (2029), down from 38.1% (2023),” as quoted from Anies’ vision, mission and work program document -Muhaimin, Monday (30/10/2023).
They also promised to improve government debt management to optimize the composition: term, currency denomination and debt sources with a planned, competitive and transparent Government Securities issuance process in order to obtain the lowest interest rates.
Meanwhile, Prabowo-Gibran in their vision and mission document entitled “Together with Advanced Indonesia” did not target specific figures related to debt. Both only ensure improvements in debt governance only for productive sectors and they consider the government debt to GDP ratio which is currently at 38% the lowest among G20 members.
“Improving government debt governance by using it only for productive sectors,” Prabowo-Gibran promised in their vision and mission document.
Meanwhile, Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD, in his vision and mission document entitled “Towards a Superior Indonesia”, does not mention the use of debt or the ratio figures at all. However, both include budget management as the foundation for program implementation.
According to them, the availability of an adequate budget with good quality spending. According to Ganjar-Mahfud, an increased, clear, detailed and well-managed budget reflects the government’s commitment to improving the quality of life of the community.
“So that all development agendas and programs that are really needed by the people can be implemented with strong budget support. However, of course it is not only the budget amount that is determining, but also how the funds are managed and used,” quoted from the vision and mission document of Ganjar and Mahfud.
Referring to the latest APBN Performance and Facts data, namely as of September 2023, the realization of government debt has reached IDR 7,891.61 trillion with a debt to GDP ratio of 37.95% of GDP. In terms of amount, it increased from August 2023 by IDR 7,870.35 trillion with a debt to GDP ratio at that time of 37.84%.
Even though it has increased, this ratio is still far from the provisions of Law Number 1 of 2003 concerning State Finance which requires the government debt ratio to be a maximum of 60% of GDP. Apart from that, this ratio is also still below the target set through the Medium Term Debt Management Strategy for the 2023-2026 period at around 40%.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
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