The Indonesian Ministry of Defense is set to lose another 400 billion rupiah (about 43 million U.S. dollars) from its budget because the government plans to use the money to help alleviate poverty in Indonesia.
"The government has never provided a sufficient budget for the defense sector, but I can accept the cut as it will be used to support ... poverty alleviation," Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono was quoted Wednesday by English daily The Jakarta Post as saying.
"The fund will be used in the health and education sectors, to increase export, create employment," the minister said.
There are some 34 million people living in poverty in Indonesia, with about 10 million unemployed.
Juwono said his ministry previously had a budget of some 32 trillion (3.5 billion dollars) -- about one percent of Indonesia's gross domestic product (GDP). He said the defense budget was among the smallest in Southeast Asia.
Indonesia's defense budget should be 76 trillion rupiah (8.3 billion dollars) , Juwono said.
"Currently we are studying which expenses could be scrapped or reduced, including reducing the purchase of transport vehicles, defense systems and building materials that are rarely used," he said.
Source: Xinhua
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