Jakarta to double infrastructure, transport budgets on fuel gain

Jakarta

INDONESIA will save about US$18 billion from the biggest overhaul of its decades-old fuel subsidy system, allowing the government to double spending on transportation, agriculture and public works.

The government will save 230 trillion rupiah (S$24.4 billion) in total from the fuel subsidy change and 60 per cent of that will be spent on infrastructure, Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro told reporters on Monday. The government plans to double spending on transportation from last year, said Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Monday.