"The government must be careful to not forget the national education goals, if it wants to cut the education budget," Susanti informed Antara here on Friday.
She reiterated that the government should be careful and not cut the education budget as it will have a negative impact on the program that had been implemented so far.
The government plans to cut the state budget in 2016 that amounted to Rp50.02 trillion, including the Ministry of Education's budget of Rp6.6 trillion.
According to the result of a plenary cabinet session held here on Wednesday, the government has decided to revise the 2016 State Budget.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati stated that the cabinet session on Wednesday discussed the final notes of finance and postures of the 2017 state budget.
"However, in order to draw up a credible and solid state budget, we need to look at the conditions in 2016. The president has decided that the state budget will continue to serve as an instrument to maintain the momentum of economic activities, so more job opportunities can be created as part of the efforts to lower the poverty rate," she emphasized.
Indrawati noted that tax receipts in the past couple of years had come under heavy pressure due to a shortfall in the prices of oil, gas, coal, palm oil, and other commodities, thereby leading to a decline in tax receipts.
"The trade and construction sectors in 2016 also came under pressure as reflected by the volume, which grew only a half of the previous years' figure," she pointed out.
In addition, the sluggish global trade has caused the Indonesian economy to contract since 2015, she affirmed.
"Under these circumstances, the Finance Ministry has reported that a potential decline in tax receipts this year is quite large as the 2016 calculation base is still high," he stated.
She said the tax receipts in 2015 were nearly Rp249 trillion lower than the target. (WDY)
: I Gusti Bagus Widyantara
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