TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati said that these days many people are highlighting the state debt in detail due to the Covid-19 pandemic crisis. He saw this condition differently from previous crises.
“Now everyone is taking care” debt country. Everyone talks about it. It is good that we have ownership on state finances,” Sri Mulyani said in a discussion on the launching of the book Kontan which was held virtually, Sunday, October 24, 2021.
According to Sri Mulyani, in the 1997 and 1998 crises, not many parties paid attention to the condition of the state budget (APBN). Whereas at that time the state debt soared due to the provision of bailout funds to banks and large corporations that collapsed.
Almost everyone, said Sri Mulyani, sees an increase in debt as a “taken for granted” condition or something that can be taken for granted. Likewise with the conditions of the global crisis of 2008-2009. Not many parties pay attention to State Budget at that time.
Sri Mulyani continued, now people are increasingly aware that state finances are the most important instrument that is present during a crisis. The former World Bank Managing Director said that by learning from the three crises that Indonesia has been through, namely the 1998 monetary crisis, the 2008 global crisis, and the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic crisis, state finances are the biggest support.
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