JAKARTA. President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo reiterated on Wednesday the importance of spending efficiency in the 2017 state budget, stressing that the budgetary allocations must be prioritized for capital expenditure.

He added that all ministries and non-ministry government agencies must “tighten belts” on operational costs and procurements.

"I instruct ministries and agencies to be disciplined in economizing expenditure. I have said many times that they must try to look one by one, in detail, what budgetary allocations do not make sense or are too high and then change them to more realistic numbers," Jokowi said in a plenary Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Office in Jakarta on Wednesday,

He further said that, in formulating basic macroeconomic assumptions in the 2017 state budget, all ministers and agencies must consider the current condition of the domestic economy and pay attention to the circumstances of the global economy.

"We have to calculate the potential impacts of the global economy on our economy. An economic slowdown in China, for instance, will also weaken commodity prices and may lead to the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate adjustment. We should keep an eye on this," Jokowi said.

He also reminded his Cabinet to maintain the momentum of economic recovery in the country, highlighting the acceleration of infrastructure development and the tax amnesty as well as the improvement of investment climate that would boost economic growth in the following quarters.

"With the tax amnesty, we will expand and have a more valid, integrated and comprehensive tax base in order to increase our tax ratio," he said. (Ayomi Amindoni)

Editor: Dupla Kartini