Indonesia allocates US$684mil to lend to regions to boost economy, step up spending

Picture courtesy of The Jakarta Post/Asian News Network

JAKARTA, Aug 8 (The Jakarta Post/ANN): The government is allocating Rp10 trillion (US$684.72 million) this year to provide loans for regional administrations, while taking measures to step up government spending, as it seeks to speed up the recovery of the pandemic-hit economy.

Regional administrations have seen revenues decline by around 28 per cent on average amid the coronavirus pandemic, said the Finance Ministry’s fiscal balance director general Astera Primanto Bhakti, adding that the pandemic had limited the ability of regions to fund priority programs.