Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said the disbursement of direct cash assistance (BLT) amounting to Rp 28.8 trillion (US$1.98 billion) for 8 million recipient groups remained low.
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Kompas Team
·5 minutes read
TANGKAPAN LAYAR
Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan in a virtual press conference on evaluating the implementation of emergency PPKM which was also attended by Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Minister of Social Affairs Tri Rismaharini, and Minister of Home Affairs, Tito Karnavian, on Saturday (17/7/2021).
The government has again called on local governments to speed up the disbursement of social protection funds to help people affected by the pandemic.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The disbursement of the funds for the handling of COVID-19 from the 2021 Regional Government Budget has begun to show an increase in recent weeks. However, extra work is still needed because the total budget disbursement at the regional government level is still below 25 percent.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said the disbursement of direct cash assistance (BLT) amounting to Rp 28.8 trillion (US$1.98 billion) for 8 million recipient groups remained low. Of the total funds, the realization was only Rp 6.11 trillion or 21.2 percent. Only 21 regions have realized BLT funds above 50 percent.
"We have asked all regions to further accelerate the disbursement of the funds allocated for villages. That way, the people can immediately get assistance," Sri Mulyani said at a virtual press conference held following the issuance of the President’s guidelines on the extension of emergency public activity restrictions (PPKM Darurat) on Wednesday.
On the same occasion, Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah said the government would provide wage subsidies for workers affected by PPKM. The recipients of the wage subsidies are workers registered with the Workers Social Security Agency (BPJS Ketenagakerjaan) as of June 2021 with a maximum income of Rp 3.5 million. A subsidy of Rp 500,000 per month will be given in July and August in one disbursement. Thus, the recipients will receive a wage subsidy of Rp 1 million per person.
The wage subsidy will be given to 8.8 million workers who work in non-critical sectors at level four.
Tangkapan layar dialog Satker Penanganan Covid-19
Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah.
The government officially decided to extend emergency public activity restrictions (PPKM Darurat) for five more days, until July 25, but under a the new designation of PPKM level four. The determination of the level of PPKM is based on a number of parameters, such as the transmission rate and health and sociological conditions.
“PPKM consists of levels one through four. Level four is the highest, as we are now experiencing," said Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.
Luhut said the restrictions could be gradually eased beginning on July 26 in some regions if there was an improvement as measured by a decline in COVID-19 cases based on the standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO). The implementation of the emergency measures has begun to show positive results, such as a decline in new cases and in bed occupancy rates at hospitals.
“We have to be careful so that the condition, which has just begun to show an improvement, will not get worse. We ask for patience, because we are at war with the very vicious Delta variant," said Luhut.
The government will also increase testing and tracing in densely populated settlements in urbanized areas in seven regencies and cities, including Jakarata, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi (Jabodetabek); Bandung; Surabaya; Surakarta; Semarang; and Malang.
Improving budget disbursement
Separately, the director general of regional financial development of the Home Affairs Ministry, Mochamad Ardian Noervianto, said there had been an increase in the disbursement of regional COVID-19 funds in recent weeks.
The disbursement began to show an increase thanks to assistance and monitoring conducted by the ministry in all provinces. The assistance was given because the patterns of fund disbursement at the local government level during the pandemic were still the same as under normal conditions, Adrian said. In other words, the disbursement was carried mostly at the end of the year.
The total adjustment of the 2021 regional budget for the handling of COVID-19 in provinces, regencies or cities as of July 9 was Rp 37.07 trillion. The amount was further increased to Rp 37.29 trillion on July 17.
DOKUMEN DITJEN BINA KEUANGAN DAERAH, KEMENTERIAN DALAM NEGERI
Infographic: Percentage of realization of provincial and district/city APBD expenditures throughout Indonesia as of 9 July 2021.
The funds were allocated for five programs, namely handling COVID-19 in the regions, vaccination support, support for urban villages in handling COVID-19, incentives for regional health workers, spending on other activities and priority activities. The increase was due to the reallocation of 8 percent of the revenue-sharing and general allocation fund for provincial governments.
Ardian added that the increase had also occurred in the realization of fund disbursement. On July 9, the realization of the funds for handling the COVID-19 pandemic in all provinces, regencies and cities reached Rp 4.57 trillion (12.35 percent). This realization further increased to Rp 6.56 trillion (17.61 percent) on July 17.
Previously, Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian gave a stern warning in an official letter to 19 regional heads who were slow in disbursing the funds allocated for COVID-19 mitigation, such as for COVID-19 medical equipment and incentives for health workers.
On Monday, during a video briefing of regional heads throughout the country, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said that strong field leadership was needed to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the field activities referred to by the President was the acceleration of social assistance and regional spending.
Mohammad Faisal, an economist at the Center of Reform on Economics Indonesia, said the government needed to think about providing supporting funds for the regions, not just relying on the existing funds. (DIM/LKT/CAS/S ON)
(This article was translated byHendarsyah Tarmizi)
