JAKARTA: President Prabowo Subianto (pic) has instructed officials to eradicate budget markup practices, calling them a form of corruption, reported Indonesian News Agency (Antara).
During the National Development Planning Conference in Jakarta on Monday (Dec 30), he stated that preventive measures have been implemented to avoid markups, including digitalisation programmes for procurement.
"The culture of inflating the price of goods, projects and budgets is considered corruption. It is robbing people's money," he said.
"If you have a Rp100 million project, do not claim it is Rp150 million."
Prabowo explained that budget markups can also result in leaks in the state budget. Therefore, he urged the government, the legislature, and the judiciary to collaborate in eradicating budget markups.
"We aim for national development by reducing all forms of leakage, manipulation and markups. This requires efforts from all parties."
Prabowo emphasised that he would reveal the value of the budget leak at another time. If necessary, he said, he would disclose it in a cabinet meeting.
He also urged ministries, institutions and regional governments to accept the budgets they are allocated and allow greater spending on priority programmes such as food self-sufficiency and free nutritious meals. - Bernama-Antara
