Ever wonder in which bank the Indonesian government saves Thousand of trillions as the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN)?
Indonesia’s 2021 state budget alone is IDR 2,750 trillion. The biggest source of funds in the state budget itself is taxes. In addition, the government also gets money from Non-Tax State Revenue (PNBP), BUMN dividends, debt, asset sales, and grants.
All of these funds are included in the state treasury which is kept in a bank account in the name of the state, before being used to finance various government needs such as ASN salaries (government-owned institution workers), development programs, debt payments plus interest, and so on.
Where does all of the state money is kept?
The storage of APBN money as the Indonesian government’s state treasury has been regulated in Government Regulation (PP) Number 39 of 2007 concerning Management of State Money.
In the PP it is stated that the state treasury is where the government keeps its money to accommodate all state revenues and pay all expenses.
This state treasury is then stored in an account called the state general treasury account (RKUN), where all incoming and outgoing money traffic is regulated and managed by the Minister of Finance as the state general treasurer.
It is stated in Article 14 of PP Number 39 of 2007, the state treasury is kept in an account at the central bank, Bank Indonesia (BI). In the state account, all withdrawals of money must obtain approval from the Minister of Finance as the state treasurer.
This RKUN does not only contain one account but there are several government-owned accounts that function as state treasury at the central bank.
The RKUN is usually classified according to the currency it holds. Some examples of RKUN include rupiah RKUN, US dollar RKUN, yen RKUN, and Euro RKUN.
Through foreign currency accounts, it is easy for the government to carry out cross-border transactions such as paying debts to creditor countries.
What is interesting, in accordance with Article 15, is that as customers deposit their money in commercial banks, the Indonesian government is also entitled to receive interest in the form of interest from BI.
