JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia's unaudited budget deficit for fiscal year 2024 reached 2.29 percent of gross domestic product, official data showed on Monday, lower than a previous Finance Ministry estimate but larger than the 2023 deficit.
Southeast Asia's largest economy had previously estimated a budget gap of 2.7% of GDP for the whole of 2024. In 2023, it has a deficit of 1.61% of GDP.
The deficit forecast for 2025 is 2.53% of GDP.
In her presentation of the data, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati described the deficit in 2024 as “the basis for an effective transition of government,” as Indonesia inaugurated Prabowo Subianto as its new president in October.
Earlier this week, she said a smaller-than-expected deficit could also be a strong foundation for 2025, which economists have warned could be an uncertain year due to changing politics in the United States under President-elect Donald Trump.
In Indonesia, financial markets are watching the government's fiscal policy after Prabowo said he wants to be more aggressive in dealing with debt to finance his key programmes, which include providing free school lunches and significantly expanding farmland.
The “Free Nutritious Meals” programme, which has a budget of 71 trillion rupiah ($4.39 billion), is scheduled to start on Monday.
($1 = 16,180.0000 rupees)
