2.6 PCT BUDGET DEFICIT AIMED TO RESCUE ECONOMY: OFFICIAL

Jakarta, Feb 17 (ANTARA) - The government has raised a deficit in the 2008 state budget to 2.6 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) to rescue the economy from the global financial crisis, a Finance Ministry official said.
The 2009 budget deficit was raised to Rp137 trillion or 2.6 percent of the GDP from Rp51 trillion or 1.0 percent of the GDP, the ministry's director general of budgetary affairs, Anny Ratnawati said here on Tuesday.
"Part of the deficit results from the fiscal stimulus package which will cost Rp71.3 trillion or 1.4 percent of the GDP," she said.
State receipts in 2009 are expected to fall Rp138.1 trillion or 2.7 percent of the GDP, she said.
In the meantime, subsidies and funds transferred to regions would decline Rp43 trillion, she said.
The government would use a surplus of around Rp51 trillion from the 2008 state budget and an additional foreign loan of Rp37 trillion to cover the 2009 budget deficit, she said.
The other sources of funds to plug the deficit would come from standby loans worth US$1 billion from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the issuance of state bonds including sharia bonds, she said.
By launching the stimulus package, Indonesia would hopefully be among the countries enjoying positive growth rates this year, she said.
The government has set the target of economic growth rate for this year at 4.5 percent, the highest among Southeast Asian nations.