Indonesia’s 2022 unaudited budget deficit at 2.38% of GDP: finance minister

INDONESIA recorded a 464.3 trillion rupiah fiscal deficit in 2022, or 2.38 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), based on unaudited data, its Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Tuesday (Jan 3), much smaller than originally designed.

The government had initially targeted a budget deficit of 4.85 per cent of GDP. Revenue collection, however, got a boost from higher commodity prices and the easing of Covid restrictions last year, prompting the government to revise down the deficit forecast several times.

The latest figure was below a forecast on Dec 21, when President Joko Widodo said he expected a 2.49 per cent deficit.

The resource-rich country recorded 2,626.4 trillion rupiah of revenue last year, up 30.6 per cent from 2021 and about 16 per cent bigger than the target, the minister told an online news conference.

The government spent 3,090.8 trillion rupiah, slightly below the planned amount and representing 11 per cent growth from the previous year.

South-east Asia’s largest economy likely grew 5.2 per cent last year, Sri Mulyani said. Economic growth in 2021 was 3.7 per cent and the government is targetting a 5.3 per cent GDP expansion this year. REUTERS