JAKARTA – The government announced that the State Budget (APBN) recorded a deficit of IDR 31.2 trillion for the period of January-February (2M) 2025.

This marks the first deficit at the beginning of the year, after the APBN consistently recorded surpluses at the start of the year since 2022.

Data from the Ministry of Finance show that the APBN recorded a surplus of IDR 20 trillion in 2M 2022. The surplus continued in 2M 2023 at IDR 132 trillion and 2M 2024 at IDR 27 trillion.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani stated that the early-year deficit is equivalent to 0.13% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). She explained that this situation is still in line with the "design" of the 2025 APBN deficit.

“So, the IDR 31.2 trillion deficit is still within the APBN target, which is 2.53% of GDP or IDR 616.2 trillion,” Sri Mulyani said during a press conference on Thursday in Jakarta.

Overall, the early-year budget deficit indicates that government spending has outpaced revenue. Sri Mulyani mentioned that government expenditure had reached IDR 348.1 trillion by February 2025, while revenue amounted to IDR 316.9 trillion. (KR/ZH)