The coronavirus pandemic has hit the national economy so severely that the 2020 State Budget needs to be urgently revised, otherwise targets that have been set will fall well below expectations.

“All countries around the world are suffering huge fiscal and monetary shocks because of the coronavirus pandemic. So it is not surprising that the state budget posture is also shaken up and therefore needs revision in some areas. Otherwise, targets set in the state budget will fall well below expectations,” Member of Commission XI of the House of Representatives, Achmad Hafisz Tohir, further explained in an interview via text message, Monday (23/3/2020).

Macroeconomic assumption and the 2020 state budget allocation are likely to be subject to revision. All countries throughout the world feel the economic impact of this Coronavirus Outbreak. Moreover, previously the world economy was also shaken by Trump’s trade war policy versus Xi Jinping. Hafisz added that the state budget deficit would be far from what had been set. It is the government's privilege to revise the deficit rate from 3 to 5 percent.

According to the State Financial Law, the State Budget revision propose.d by the government must be approved by the House. Meanwhile, as the social distancing policy has been implemented to curb the spread of the Coronavirus, deliberation to decide the State Budget revision will be held through video conferencing. Such method has been employed by the House Speaker, Puan Maharani and Vice Speaker, Azis Syamsudin, when they chaired Steering Committee meeting. In this way, the parliamentary function to oversee the government policy can still be carried out well. (mh/es)