Despite a Budget Surplus, Many Citizens Perceive the Economic Situation as Poor

The Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) reported that Indonesia's State Budget (APBN) had a surplus of Rp103.1 trillion until April 2022. [Link to source: https://databoks.katadata.co.id/datapublish/2022/05/24/realisasi-apbn-surplus-rp1031-triliun-hingga-april-2022]

"The APBN position until April shows a very large surplus, both in the primary balance and the total balance. The APBN surplus reached 0.58% of the Gross Domestic Product," said Finance Minister Sri Mulyani in the *APBN Kita* press conference on Monday (23/5/2022).

Despite the surplus, public perception of the national economic condition remains generally negative. This is reflected in a report from the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) released on Sunday (22/5/2022).

According to the LSI survey, the majority, or 36.2%, of respondents assessed Indonesia's economy as still being in poor condition. This breaks down to 31.4% rating it as poor and 4.8% as very poor.

Furthermore, 35.4% of respondents rated the current economic condition as "so-so."

Meanwhile, only 26.5% of respondents considered the economy to be in good condition, with 25.4% rating it as good and 1.1% as very good.

"Thus, public perception of the economy remains negative," said LSI Executive Director Djayadi Hanan in a virtual press conference on Sunday (22/5/2022).

According to Djayadi, previous surveys showed that positive perceptions of the economic condition tended to increase in July, November, December 2021, and February 2022. However, this number remained lower than negative perceptions.

From December 2021 to February 2022, there was also a recorded increase in negative perceptions, followed by a slight decrease over the last three months.

"Although overall, more people assess the economy negatively than positively, the trend is positive," said Djayadi.

This survey was conducted from May 10-14, 2022, involving 1,273 respondents. Respondents were aged 17 years or older, or married, and owned a telephone/cell phone.

The sample was taken using the random digit dialing (RDD) method, or the process of randomly generating telephone numbers. The margin of error for this survey is 2.8% with a 95% confidence level, assuming simple random sampling.

(See also: [Link to source: https://databoks.katadata.co.id/datapublish/2022/05/13/perbandingan-ekonomi-ri-dan-negara-mitra-siapa-tumbuh-paling-pesat] Comparison of Indonesian and Partner Country Economies: Who Grew the Fastest?)