Jokowi Steps Up Infrastructure as Indonesia Budget Strained
- President seeking to boost economic growth to 7 percent
- Government revenue under pressure after commodity prices fell
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Indonesia’s government is speeding up an infrastructure rollout program that President Joko Widodo has made a hallmark of his administration, despite its budget coming under strain.
Even with a reduced allocation this year, the Public Works Ministry has spent a bigger proportion of its budget in the first half compared with 2015. The department’s spending on infrastructure was cut to 97 trillion rupiah ($7.4 billion) in a revised fiscal plan, down from 104.1 trillion rupiah initially projected, Taufik Widjoyono, secretary general of the department, said in an interview in Jakarta on Thursday.