Minister: Realization Of 2012 Revised State Budget Good

Jakarta, Jan 7 (ANTARA) - Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said the realization of the 2012 revised state budget was good because the government was able to carry out prudent and consistent macro economic and fiscal policy measures. "In general the macro economic condition in 2012 showed a good development," the minister told a press conference on the development of the country`s macro economy and the realization of the 2012 revised state budget here on Monday. The minister said that the economic growth at the end of 2012 was projected at 6.3 percent, or slightly lower than the target set at 6.5 percent for 2012. "The projection was based on the economic growth developments up to at the end of the third quarter of 2012 which was predicted to reach 6.2 percent," the minister said. In the meantime, inflation could be controlled at 4.3 percent which was lower than the assumption at 6.8 percent. This was because of encouraging development of the people`s expectation and the stability of goods and services supplies. "The inflation could be controlled at a good level because of the success of the efforts to stabilize the prices of strategic goods," he said. The minister said that the average value of the rupiah in 2012 was Rp9,384 per US$1 which weakened from the initial assumption of Rp9,000 per US$1. The weakening of the rupiah was due to pressures at the Indonesian balance of payment. "The pressures were a result of uncertainties in the global economic developments and the high demand for imports," the minister asserted. The average realization of the interest of the three-month government treasury bills (SPN) was 3.2 percent or far lower than the assumption at 5.0 percent due to the high demand for SPN and low inflation pressures. Agus also said that the realization of the Indonesian crude price was US$113 per barrel, higher than the assumption of US$105 per barrel due to the high demand for world`s crude and the political condition in the Middle East. The minister explained that up to the end of December 2012 the realization of state revenues reached Rp1,335.7 trillion, or about 98.3 percent of the target set at Rp1,358.2 trillion. State expenditure reached Rp1,481.7 trillion or 95.7 percent of the ceiling set at Rp1,548.3 trillion. "The state expenditure is Rp66.6 trillion or 4.3 percent lower than the set ceiling," he said. Thus, the realization of the budget deficit reached Rp146 trillion or 76.8 percent of the target set at Rp190.1 trillion or about 1.77 percent of the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) from the 2.23 target of the GDP. Apart from that, the minister said, there was Rp34 trillion unspent budget (Silpa) but there was also additional expenditure burden for expenditure on subsidized fuel oils and electricity whose payment should be carried out in 2013.