Debt RI Rp 4,000 T, Economist: Government Must Explain to the People

Jakarta - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati issued a statement related to hebohnya amount of government debt which translucent Rp 4,034.80 trillion. Sri Mulyani assess the attention of all parties to the debt into input for him as the state finance manager to keep alert.

However, Sri Mulyani also reminded that excessive worries can actually reduce the productivity of the community. In response, Bhima Yudhistira Adhinegara, Bhima Yudhistira Adhinegara Institute of Economic Economics and Finance (INDEF) economist asked the government to explain to the public about the addition of debt in the last 3 years.

"In addition to explaining the benefits, people also need to be educated about the risks arising from the addition of debt in the last 3 years, if the explanation is balanced I think there should be no noise about debt," Bhima said when contacted detikFinance, Saturday (24/3/2018).

According to Bhima, the problem is that the government only mentions that debt is productive, secure and debt is needed for development.

"Then the criticized party is considered as the party who wants to incite the society so it is counterproductive, I think it is not right," he said.

Bhima said the input from economists is based on reliable data, so the government should be more receptive to economic criticism as constructive input.

"As observers would want to build productive criticism for the government to run in the right track and transparent in the process of policy making, let alone the debt policy affecting 260 million Indonesians," Bhima said.