After “Retreating” for a Month, Sri Mulyani Announces State Budget Performance Today

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The Ministry of Finance will finally disclose the state of the National Budget for the January 2025 period to the public. Various key financial data, ranging from tax revenues to budget deficits, will be announced through the APBN KiTa press conference held this Thursday morning (13/3/2025).

The release of the State Budget Performance and Facts (APBN KiTa) report was finally held again after being delayed by approximately one month. Based on usual practices, the presentation of the January 2025 State Budget should have been announced since mid-February.

The Ministry of Finance was observed to have changed the schedule for releasing the APBN KiTa report several times. Initially, after facing widespread criticism for delaying the release of the APBN report, the Ministry of Finance promised to announce it this week between March 10-14, 2025. However, the schedule was then postponed again to March 17, 2025.

On Wednesday (12/3/2025), an "incident" occurred that led to the premature disclosure of state budget (APBN) data to the public. The Ministry of Finance had briefly uploaded the written performance report of the state budget or the February 2025 edition of the APBN KiTa Book on its official website on Wednesday morning. The report detailed the financial condition of the country for the January 2025 period.

Shortly thereafter, the document could no longer be accessed. The Ministry of Finance removed it from the official website. Within hours, by Wednesday afternoon, an official invitation from the Ministry of Finance circulated, announcing that the APBN KiTa press conference had been rescheduled and would be held the following day, Thursday (13/3/2025) at 10:00 AM WIB.

The Head of the Bureau of Communication and Information Services (KLI) of the Ministry of Finance, Deni Surjantoro, explained that the APBN KiTa Book was removed from the website because a press conference had been scheduled.

"We will take it down first, because coincidentally the press conference has been moved forward to tomorrow (Thursday) at 10 am, so the intention is that tomorrow our APBN can be explained more comprehensively," he said, Wednesday.

The presentation of the inaugural performance of the state budget (APBN) under the era of Prabowo Subianto is eagerly awaited by many parties. Andreas Eddy Susetyo, Chairman of the State Financial Accountability Agency (BAKN) of the House of Representatives (DPR), stated that the publication of "APBN KiTa," which has been delayed for a month, has raised questions among the public.

This is unfortunate, considering that so far the Ministry of Finance has been transparent and accountable with state financial data.

"The APBN KiTa tradition that has been built so far has proven to be good for building investor, market, and public trust. Hopefully (the announcement) can reduce speculation and restore trust in the Ministry of Finance," Andreas said.

Citing the interim report of APBN KiTa which has already been "leaked" and widely circulated among the public, several APBN indicators in January 2025 were observed to be performing poorly.

Until January 31, 2025, tax revenues were only IDR 115.81 trillion or down 3.48 percent compared to January 2024 which was IDR 175.8 trillion. Meanwhile, tax payments (excluding customs and excise) were only IDR 88.89 trillion, down drastically by 41.86 percent compared to last year which was IDR 152.89 trillion.

Meanwhile, state spending during January 2025 reached IDR 180.8 trillion, down slightly from IDR 184.1 trillion in the previous year. Thus, the APBN has been "in deficit" or experiencing a budget deficit since the beginning of the year. This is unusual, considering that the APBN usually experiences a surplus for the first 3-4 months, then only a deficit in the middle to the end of the year.

Bright Institute economist Awalil Rizky assessed that the main cause of the poor state revenue was the implementation of the new Coretax tax system which has not run smoothly since it came into effect on January 1, 2025.

"Normally, tax revenues increase every year, or at least equal. A drastic tax reduction of 41.8 percent is almost impossible with the economic conditions that are not actually in a crisis," he said.

He estimated that state revenues would remain sluggish until February 2025. "With the decision to use two tax systems, Coretax and the old system, it is likely that tax revenues will only increase or return to normal in March," said Awalil.

Regarding the delay in the release of APBN KiTa, the Ministry of Finance is expected to maintain the transparent culture that has existed so far. The delay in the presentation of APBN KiTa's performance, which has occurred twice under the Prabowo administration, could affect market confidence.

"In addition, there was an incident of takedown of the APBN document that had previously been uploaded. That is very bad for investor perception," he said.