How much was the government employee spending in the 2017 State Budget (APBN)?

Civil servant (PNS) salaries have consumed a significant portion of the government budget. In the 2017 State Budget (APBN), salary expenditure reached Rp 343.3 trillion, and goods and services expenditure amounted to Rp 296.6 trillion, out of a total of Rp 1.13 quadrillion (thousand trillion). Therefore, the total expenditure on employee salaries and goods and services this year was Rp 639.9 trillion. This figure is far higher than government capital expenditure, which only reached Rp 194.3 trillion.

In the National Coordination Meeting on Personnel, themed "Digital Transformation in the Management of State Civil Apparatus" on Wednesday, May 10th, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani stated that a quarter (26.1 percent) of the central government's budget is used to pay salaries and allowances for bureaucrats. However, services to the public, as taxpayers, have not been optimal.

Furthermore, in 131 regencies/cities, regional employee salaries have exceeded half of the total regional revenue and expenditure budget (APBD). This is despite the government allocating Rp 764.9 trillion for transfers to regions and village funds from the total 2017 APBN, which was Rp 2.08 quadrillion. In 2016, the budget for transfers to regions and village funds reached Rp 776.3 trillion.