Govt to raise spending on education next year

Jakarta, NU Online
Bowing to legal pressure from the Constitutional Court, the government Thursday finally stated that it will raise its budget allocation for education next year.

"The President has instructed a 20 percent budget allocation for next year regardless of budgetary constraints," Finance Minister Sri Mulyani told a media briefing at the Presidential Palace.<>

In a judicial review on the 2008 State Budget Law, the Constitutional Court on Tuesday stated that the law had violated the 1945 Constitution by failing to allocate a minimum of 20 percent of annual spending on education.

The law currently only allocates 15.6 percent. The court allowed the government to continue using the 2008 law in managing the country's fiscal affairs but demanded the budget on education to be raised next year.

To comply with the demand, Mulyani said the government would have to take other efficiency measures and cut other types of spending.

"We will discuss and calculate soon with the House of Representatives," she was quoted by The Jakarta Post as saying.

Speaking separately that day, Vice President Muhammad Jusuf Kalla also confirmed the government would be able to meet the demand of the Constitution in next year's state budget.

"We will meet the requirement next year for sure. As for the details on how, we'll have to wait for what the President has to say in his address tomorrow," Kalla said Thursday. (dar)