The government is dipping into its emergency funds, while debt repayments are being delayed. If they resort to printing more money, the onset of hyperinflation will only be a matter of time.
ON the brink of an economic crisis, nothing is more worrying than seeing the amount of available surplus budget balance (SAL) funds plummet. The government’s emergency fund at Bank Indonesia (BI) has shrunk by more than Rp300 trillion (US$17.65 billion) in six months. The erosion of the SAL funds reflects one thing: the government’s cash flow is in dire straits.
SAL funds come from the accumulation of leftover budget funds from previous years, which are kept in reserve. They serve as an emergency fund for covering budget deficits,…