JAKARTA - The House of Representatives has asked Bank Indonesia (BI) to find a breakthrough for development financing amid the economic uncertainty caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This is to reduce BI and the government's reliance on the burden-sharing scheme in the State Budget funding.
According to the House's Commission XI member Dolfie O.F.P., the economic uncertainty will continue because no COVID-19 vaccine has been discovered. "The threat of recession continues to haunt the economy, and the Finance Minister has projected that Q3 economic growth will be -2.9%," he said at a meeting between Commission XI and BI Governor Perry Warjiyo on Tuesday (29/9).
Mr Dolfie added that if the notion of printing more money as an alternative financing source for development in the Budget is rejected, BI needs to review other notions to provide funding for the state. "Whether we will use e-Rupiah or change the regulation to strengthen the state's financial capacity to continue development," he said.
The government and BI have implemented a burden-sharing policy to provide Rp 183.48 trillion funding in the 2020 Budget. The scheme is carried out by purchasing government securities in the primary market through public goods and non-public goods financing. (LK/MS)