REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Finance Minister Chatib Basri said here on Wednesday that low capital expenditure until April was in line with the government's expectations.

"I think the relatively slow spending is in line with efforts to maintain the fiscal policy," he stated.

He noted that the low capital and goods expenditure would keep the budget deficit from widening. Energy subsidy spending has so far reached around 27 percent.

"If the expenditure is too fast and subsidy spending goes up, the deficit may increase. We are now still using the 2014 budget that set the budget deficit at 1.7 percent, and so, we cannot surpass that," he remarked.

The finance minister pointed out that in line with the trend, the budget deficit will increase in the third and fourth quarters, and so, unless it is maintained, it could pose a problem for the next government.

In view of that, the budget deficit must be maintained so that it does not exceed the target and cause a fiscal problem for the next government, which will start work in October 2014, he said.

The present administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will end its second term in October this year, and he will be replaced by a new president following the presidential election scheduled to be held on July 9.

Chatib Basri explained, "The deficit must be maintained so that later, in the third and fourth quarters, the disbursements will not burst. That is why we have come up with an austere idea so that when the new government arrives, the deficit will not be too wide."

Based on the finance ministry's data, until April 30, 2014, state revenues were recorded at Rp413.1 trillion, or 24.8 percent of the target set in the current budget at Rp1,667.1 trillion, while state expenditures were recorded at Rp432.7 trillion, or 23.5 percent of the ceiling set at Rp1,842.5 trillion.

Tax revenue, meanwhile, reached Rp354.4 trillion, or 27.7 percent of the target set in the current budget at Rp1,280.4 trillion, and non-tax state revenues reached Rp58.4 trillion, or 15.2 percent of the target set at Rp385.4 trillion in the current budget.

Expenditures for state employees reached Rp72.1 trillion, or 27.4 percent of the budget ceiling set at Rp263 trillion, while expenditure for goods was Rp27.8 trillion, or 13 percent of the ceiling set at Rp214.4 trillion, and capital expenditure reached Rp12.8 trillion, or 7 percent of the Rp184.2 trillion ceiling.

Energy expenditure, meanwhile, reached Rp76.4 trillion, or 27.1 percent of the ceiling set at Rp282 trillion, consisting of Rp53 trillion for fuel subsidies, or 25.2 percent of the Rp210.6 trillion ceiling, and electricity subsidies at Rp23.4 trillion, or 32.8 percent of the ceiling set at Rp71.4 trillion.

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