Jakarta –
Fuel Oil (BBM) has increased in several countries. Before the pandemic, crude oil prices were in the range of US$ 60 per barrel. Now, the price has jumped to US$ 110-120 per barrel.
Indonesia itself is still holding back the price of fuel because it is subsidized by the state budget. According to President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), the government’s efforts have made fuel prices in Indonesia cheaper than other countries.
Pertalite is currently priced at IDR 7,650 per liter. Whereas other countries have touched the figure of Rp. 31,000 per liter for Singapore and Germany, while Thailand is Rp. 20,878 per liter.
However, Jokowi cannot confirm whether the state budget funds are still strong enough to provide fuel subsidies. According to Jokowi, if the government raises fuel prices, the majority of people will disagree.
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The option to increase the price of fuel is a pro and con in the community. Some people agree that fuel prices will increase in order to reduce the burden on the government. However, it is not uncommon for people to get oblique comments regarding this issue.
On the other hand, maintaining fuel prices makes the energy subsidy budget swell. As a result, the state budget in the APBN has increased dramatically.
Energy subsidies also contributed to the increase in government debt. Indonesia is estimated to have debts reaching Rp. 7,000 trillion in 2001. This condition is also not easy because the Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani as state treasurer often gets negative comments regarding the government’s debt which is increasingly swollen.
According to the Executive Director of Energy Watch, Mamit Setiawan, energy subsidies have indeed contributed to the increase in government debt. If state revenues are not sufficient to stem energy subsidies, debt will be the only solution. Seeing these facts, Mamit said that energy subsidies must be selected and controlled.
The House of Representatives (DPR) has warned the government about the debt that continues to swell. The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) faction criticized debt management in the 2021 fiscal year. The government debt-to-GDP ratio which has reached 40% is considered a bad signal for government debt management.
“The PKS Faction views the increase in the debt ratio in 2021 to 40.7%, this is a bad signal for the government,” said PKS Faction spokesman Hermanto at the DPR Plenary Meeting with the discussion of the Bill on Accountability for the Implementation of the 2022 State Budget, quoted Friday (8/7/2022). ).
Continued on next page.
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