This is what we all pay attention to. The Finance Ministry, the Home Ministry and the Health Ministry hold a meeting every week with governors and regents whose areas are categorized as red zones
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BENEDIKTUS KRISNA YOGATAMA/MUHAMMAD FAJAR MARTA
·6 minutes read
The disbursement of the budget for the health sector at the regional government level is still low. Of the total health budget ceiling of Rp 172.84 trillion (US$11.95 billion) for 2021 (the position of the budget ceiling at the time of the interview), only Rp 39.55 trillion or 22.9 percent has been disbursed as of June 18, 2021. In fact, the optimal disbursement of the health sector budget is the key in handling the Covid-19 pandemic and national economic recovery.
With the resurgence in Covid-19 cases, which has forced the government to impose the emergency public activity restrictions (PPKM) from July 3 to July 20, the disbursement of the health sector budget in the regions should be further accelerated. Below are excerpts from a virtual interview between Kompas and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati on the disbursement of the health sector budget on Thursday (1/7/2021).
What are the obstacles that hinder the disbursement of the health sector budgets in the regions?
This is what we all pay attention to. The Finance Ministry, the Home Ministry and the Health Ministry hold a meeting every week with governors and regents whose areas are categorized as red zones. We tell them (in the meeting) that the budget had been transferred from the central government to the regional governments. We also told them that 8 percent of the DAU (special allocation fund) and DBH (profit sharing fund) can be used for handling Covid-19. However, they haven\'t used them yet.
We also held a meeting to improve the spending mechanism in order to speed the budget disbursement in regions, especially those in the red zones.
Some time ago there were regional elections with more than 100 new regional heads being elected. Adjusting the regional budget (APBD) also took time. We have all the data on the regions which have received the funds but have not disbursed them. We also held a meeting to improve the spending mechanism in order to speed the budget disbursement in regions, especially those in the red zones. So, if the disbursement remains slow, this month (July), we will intercept (intervene) directly.
How will you intercept?
For example, like this. If I and the Health Minister want to speed up the vaccination in the regions, say in West Java and East Java. Right, we know how many doses of vaccines are available, how many TNI (military) and Polri (National Police) personnel are needed. So, the TNI-Polri and local governments can calculate the cost per specific location per subdistrict and district, and then send the bill directly to me (the Finance Ministry). So, I will directly deduct the required funds from the funds which have been allocated for the regions.
I have always said about this. We can\'t wait for each other. We have set a target of conducting a daily vaccination rate to two million doses. It means that all parties must be involved. So, now we have to use the authority of the Finance Ministry and the Health Ministry. They agreed. We do this because if we still rely on coaching or guidance, it will take a long time.
With an urgent situation like this, we must use a straightforward mechanism. This July, if the regional governments are still slow in the disbursement of the funds, we will such a mechanism. The safety of the people is the most important thing. The speed in handling the social and economic mitigation is paramount. So we have to prepare this intercept policy.
How does the government balance between health and socioeconomic factors when imposing restrictions?
The President and the government have already answered this kind of questions. The policy is always based on health and socio-economic issues. However, the government never hesitates to take restrictive measures in order to save the community because health is the top priority. The bed occupancy ratio (BOT) of the hospitals increased sharply following Idul Fitri holidays. So, we had to limit the community mobility.
We need to balance health and socioeconomic sectors, because with vaccination, health can be maintained and the economy can recover.
At the beginning of this year, when there was a spike in Covid-19 cases because of Christmas and New Year holidays, we also imposed social restrictions. When the BOR goes down, we will gradually ease the restrictions. If there is an increase in Covid-19 cases, we will investigate its cause while we accelerate the vaccination. We need to balance health and socioeconomic sectors, because with vaccination, health can be maintained and the economy can recover.
How is the budget for handling Covid-19 and national economic recovery?
Regarding such as budget, the government has allocated special funds for 3T (testing, tracing, treatment) activities as well as for the vaccination and health spending. The government also continues to provide incentives and social assistance. The government has provided social assistance for the poor such as under the Family Hope Program (PKH) that cover about 10 million people. The budget for such assistances has reached a total of Rp 28.7 trillion. About 48.63 percent of the total have been disbursed to about 9.9 million people. The remaining 100,000 recipients of the assistance are being identified and it is the Social Affairs Ministry which will handle it.
The second program is the provision of the staple food assistance which is called the Staple Food Card program for 18.8 million people with a total spending of Rp 45.12 trillion. Currently, 39.1 percent of the total budget have been disbursed. Then, there is Cash Social Assistance (BST) for 10 million people in which one person receives Rp 300,000. In addition, there is also a Village Fund Direct Cash Assistance (BLT). We will continue to update the data of targeted recipients. This is also a part of good governance because we are audited by the BPK ( Supreme Audit Agency) and the KPK (Corruption Eradication Commission).
So I emphasize that this not a question of money. We, during the cabinet meetings, have never hesitated to impose social restrictions, just because of funding problems. There is no such a problem. I emphasized that we have the budget for that.
(This article was translated byHendarsyah Tarmizi).