Jakarta, May 19 (Antara) - Funds allocated by the government to develop villages should not be reduced due to the depreciation of the rupiah against the US dollar currency.
Member of Commission XI of the House of Representatives (DPR) G. Michael Jeno remarked that the strengthening of the US dollar against the rupiah must not lead to a reduction in the amount of funds transferred from the central government to the region, especially those for the village development program.
"The implication of the dollar's appreciation is huge. If the value of the dollar is already over Rp14 thousand, it will affect the state budget as the assumption of the dollar in the state budget is set at Rp13,400. There is a big difference of about Rp600, so it must be discussed at a meeting on the 2018 revised budget (APBNP)," Jeno noted on Wednesday.
The rupiah exchange rate at the closing of the interbank transaction in Jakarta on Friday afternoon weakened by 99 points to Rp14,144 as compared to the previous position of Rp14,045 per US dollar.
According to legislator Mukhammad Misbakhun of the Golkar Faction of the DPR, the village fund program is strategic to develop villages. It is in line with President Joko Widodo's Nawacita development priority program, which among others, aims to carry out development from the frontier, outermost, and remote areas.
In order to speed up development in villages, the transfer of the village funds should be smooth.
However, according to Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, the realization of the village fund program was slightly less in the first quarter of 2018.
Up to the end of April, the realization amounted to Rp14.3 trillion, less than that in the same period in 2017, when it was Rp16.7 trillion.
"The realization of village funding for cash-for-work is not as fast as expected because it still requires preparations and planning at the village level," she said in Jakarta on Thursday.
Sri Mulyani wanted the distribution of village funds allocated in the next period accelerated because it was slow in the first four months of 2018.
She also requested the acceleration of the distribution of other funds, especially the general transfer funds, the special transfer funds and the incentive funds.
"The monitoring will be strengthened so that we can ensure that transfers to the regions can be beneficial to the community and better governed in order to avoid delays," said Sri Mulyani.
The Director General of Financial Balance at the Finance Ministry, Boediarso Teguh
Widodo, said one of the reasons the disbursement of village funds was slightly late was that some regions had not yet completed administrative requirements.
These include the issuance of district head or mayors' regulations on the procedures for fund distribution, stipulations of the village fund details, and the issuance of regulations on the village budget.
Despite the delay, Widodo said that by the end of the first semester of 2018, Rp36 trillion of the Rp60 trillion village funds would have been channeled.
This is because the Ministry of Finance has began to implement sanctions by cancelling the village fund allocations for local governments if they did not disburse the funds on time.
The deadline for the disbursement of Rp12 trillion village funds in the first phase was the third week of June, while the deadline for the disbursement of Rp24 trillion in the second phase was the fourth week of June.
"So at the latest by the fourth week of June, all the funds will be disbursed from the State General Treasury Account (RKUN) to the Regional General Treasury Account (RKUD) or else it will be canceled. With the sanction, it is expected that regional government will accelerate the distribution of the funds," said Widodo.
In the meantime, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has said earlier that the village fund disbursement is aimed at increasing local economy by providing jobs and assuring money circulation in regions.
"If that would happen, Rp187 trillion would be circulated in villages, economic growth in rural areas would increase, and consumption would increase," the president stated, at a national meeting on local and regional administrations in Jakarta on Monday (May 14).
Jokowi noted that local economy could be activated if development projects in villages could recruit local villagers and construction material supplies were bought from local shops.
The village fund should not return to cities, but it must be used to activate village economy, he added. "Cash labor-intensive program should be implemented in projects using village funds. Cash labor-intensive program would employ local villagers, paid daily or weekly, thus creating a lot of jobs," Jokowi remarked.
The government had disbursed Rp20 trillion in 2015, Rp47 trillion in 2016, and Rp60 trillion of village funds in 2017. It would disburse another Rp60 trillion of village fund in 2018.
The president expressed hope that the fund could be increased in 2019.
***3***(A014/INE)EDITED BY INE(T.A014/A/BESSR/A. Abdussalam) 19-05-2018 15:01: |
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