Jakarta-Detakposcom-Minister of National Development Planning Suharso Monoarfa attended a virtual limited meeting on accelerating the absorption of the Regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBD) in handling the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Thursday (29/07/2021).
After attending Ratas, the Minister conveyed 3 strategies for accelerating the absorption of APBD, including handling the pandemic in the regions, accelerating the distribution of TKDD, and accelerating APBD spending.
In terms of handling the pandemic in the regions, the Minister said that the priority for handling the Covid-19 Pandemic Impact was prioritized for areas that implemented PPKM Level 4, especially in 140 Regencies/Cities and experienced natural disasters.
“The central government identified the fiscal conditions of local governments in 140 regencies/cities as the main priority. Regions with low fiscal capacity are the focus for assistance in fulfilling the requirements for the distribution and implementation of TKDD absorption, and can be considered for funding assistance from the central government,” said the Minister.
In the strategy for accelerating distribution of TKDD, the Minister assessed that regional dependence on TKDD is still high, so that in encouraging the acceleration of the absorption of the APBD it is necessary to accelerate the distribution of TKDD.
“Efforts need to simplify the distribution requirements and shorten the distribution stages,” he said.
In the strategy for accelerating the absorption of APBD for spending on support for handling Covid-19, it is carried out by utilizing unexpected costs (BTT), namely facilitating and accelerating the approval mechanism for the use of BTT and refocusing activities by the Directorate General of Regional Finance, Ministry of Home Affairs, especially in 140 districts/cities that have low fiscal capacity.
Furthermore, the Minister highlighted refocusing on direct spending on handling Covid-19, such as the Social Safety Net, the budget for testing and tracing, implementing vaccines at the Village level, and procuring basic needs for the community in villages with a large number of Covid-19 positives.
Finally, the Minister emphasized refocusing on spending that has an impact on recovering the impact of Covid-19, such as assistance to informal/micro small business actors and spending on sectors that absorb workers.(HMS)
