Village Fund Absorption Continues to Increase

The implementation of Law Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages has entered its fourth year. To continuously improve the quality of the law's implementation, the government has conducted an evaluation of the policy implementation of Village Funds. Most recently, the government issued Minister of Finance Regulation Number 50/PMK.07/2017 concerning the management of transfers to regions and Village Funds.

According to the Minister of Villages, Eko Putro Sandjojo, quoting President Joko Widodo, village development will not be effective if it is top-down. Development must begin from the bottom up. Therefore, the government implemented the village fund program. Initially, only 82% of the village funds were absorbed in 2015. Subsequently, absorption continued to increase, reaching 98% in 2017.

In the 2018 State Budget (APBN), the government again allocated Rp 60 trillion for Village Funds. This amount is equivalent to Rp 800 million per village, with an indicative target this year reaching 74,957 villages. The priority of Village Funds is to finance village development and village community empowerment, adjusted to the level of village development progress.

(Read Databoks: What is the Budget for Village Funds?)