Jakarta — Indonesia’s Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, has assured the public and market players that the country’s state budget (APBN) deficit will remain under control this year, urging everyone not to be concerned.
“Don’t worry, the state budget is not going to break,” said Sri Mulyani during the Economic Dialogue with the President of the Republic of Indonesia at Menara Mandiri in Jakarta, Tuesday (April 8).
“The President’s programs are already accounted for within the existing APBN framework. Village development, including village cooperatives, is covered in the budget. The Danantara fund and the use of its dividends are also part of our projections,” she added.
Sri Mulyani reaffirmed that the 2025 budget deficit target would be maintained at around 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), equivalent to IDR 616.2 trillion.
According to her, this deficit will remain manageable as long as government spending is realized according to the projected IDR 3,621.3 trillion and state revenue reaches IDR 3,005.1 trillion.
She also addressed U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent decision to impose new tariffs on dozens of countries, including Indonesia—criticizing the move as lacking any solid economic rationale.
“The reciprocal tariffs announced by the U.S. on 60 countries reflect a calculation method that, frankly, no economist who has studied economics would be able to understand,” said Sri Mulyani.
She argued that the tariff policy is driven more by Trump’s intention to eliminate America’s trade deficits than by any legitimate economic principle.
“It basically means: I don’t want to depend on or buy more from other countries than what I can sell to them. It is purely transactional—there is no economic theory behind it,” she concluded.
