he Finance Ministry is investigating the accumulating savings of regional administrations that it sees as contradicting regional leaders’ recent complaints about reduced central government transfers.
Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa revealed on Thursday that regional governments had Rp 254 trillion (US$15.3 billion) in savings, futures and checking account assets at the end of August.
He said the money was “unused” and, given the amount, the cuts to transfers “should be no problem”. The central government cut a large portion of the transfers to regional budgets this year, and the measure is upheld in the 2026 state budget plan.
“I don’t know where the money is stored, in what form or on whose savings, but I’ll look into it. So, I told them that you can ask for some extra money, I’ll give it to you, provided that the budget absorption is good and there’s no more misappropriation,” Purbaya said.
He went on to say that both the central government and regional administrations had enough cash, but that spending had not been ideal.
The figure showed a more than a twofold jump from the Rp 92 trillion registered by the end of December.
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The largest portion, Rp 189 trillion, was kept in checking accounts, followed by Rp 57.5 trillion in futures and Rp 8 trillion in saving accounts.