The Indonesian government has allocated Rp186.4 trillion (US$12.1 billion), or 5.6% of the total draft State Budget (RAPBN) 2024, for healthcare. This figure represents an 8.05% increase compared to the APBN 2023 outlook of Rp172.5 trillion (US$11.2 billion).
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) stated that the 2024 healthcare budget will be directed towards transforming the healthcare system and boosting the pharmaceutical industry.
Furthermore, Jokowi said the 2024 healthcare budget aims to improve access to and quality of primary and referral services. The budget will also be used to ensure the availability of reliable healthcare facilities from upstream to downstream and to make the National Health Insurance program (JKN) more effective.
“And (the budget is allocated to) accelerate the reduction of stunting prevalence to reach 14% in 2024, which will be done through the expansion of coverage to all regencies/cities in Indonesia, with strengthened synergy among various institutions,” Jokowi said in his speech on the 2024 APBN Bill and Financial Note, as reported by the State Secretariat website on Wednesday (August 16, 2023).
Based on the 2024 Financial Note, the majority of the 2024 healthcare budget is allocated through central government spending (BPP). Specifically, Rp106.89 trillion will be allocated through ministries/institutions (K/L), and Rp13.43 trillion through non-K/L spending.
Meanwhile, Rp66.07 trillion will be allocated through transfers to regions (TKD).
The trend shows that Indonesia's healthcare budget has generally increased over the past decade. In 2013, for example, the healthcare budget was only Rp46.3 trillion. This amount has steadily increased until 2021, except in 2017.
The high healthcare budget in 2021 was due to the government's focus on handling the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the healthcare budget in 2022 and 2023 decreased, as shown in the graph above.
“In 2023, with the increasingly controlled COVID-19 pandemic and the revocation of pandemic status in June 2023, the projected realization of COVID-19 handling is not as large as in 2022. However, the government continues to anticipate other health risks,” according to the 2024 Financial Note.