The Finance Ministry noted that the state budget’s utilization would be prioritized for economic recovery efforts in 2023.

“We see that to date, the 2023 state budget implementation is great, and it is owing to the economic growth trend that is still very good,” Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency at the Finance Ministry Febrio Kacaribu stated during a press conference on APBN KiTa, accessed on Wednesday.

The state budget will also be channeled to expand job opportunities and to reduce the poverty rate, thereby offering tangible results to people.

Kacaribu believes that a spark of optimism still exists when one sees the economic growth rate in 2023 despite the high risk of a global economic slowdown.

The government would nonetheless remain cautious of the dynamics in the global economy, which, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast, would not turn as ugly as was initially forecast, he stated.

The government is also in the midst of discussions on revising Government Regulation Number 1 of 2019 on foreign exchange export proceeds from the export of natural resources that is expected to improve national macroeconomic stability.

“The government sees and redesigns the settings for the policy, so that foreign exchange from export can offer a significant improvement for Indonesia’s macroeconomic stability,” he noted.

The design will not contradict the free foreign exchange policy, as the foreign exchange that will be regulated is only that generated from natural resources’ commodity transactions.

Moreover, the government prepares incentives, such as a reduction in income tax on export foreign exchange interest rate up to zero percent, so business players will be willing to keep the foreign exchange for six months.

“The incentive is expected to be its own attractive selling point apart from us wanting to see a more consistent design to maintain national macroeconomic stability,” he added.

Source: Antara News