Govt to Keep Deficit Below Three Percent

Gorontalo (Antara Bali) - The government will make all efforts to keep the budget deficit at below three percent, chief economic minister Hatta Rajasa said.

"We will maintain our fiscal sustainability and make it remain healthy. For that our budget deficit must be maintained at below three percent," he said here on Saturday.

The minister believed state revenues would continue to increase so that expenditures must really be directed to productive sectors.

He said the government would also reduce expenditures on goods without cutting capital spending.

"Capital spending may not be cut but must even be increased. It is spending of goods that may not rise and must be cut," he said.

Finance minister Agus Martowardojo said earlier the 2013 budget deficit has the potential to expand to around two percent of the GDP due to increasing spending for energy subsidy. (IGT)