Indonesia's government has announced a 2022 defence budget of IDR134.1 trillion (USD9.3 billion) amid continuing economic constraints bought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The new appropriation is a nominal 2% decline on the original 2021 defence budget of IDR136.9 trillion but a 12% increase over the revised allocation for this year of IDR120.1 trillion, budget according to documents issued by the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
Janes Defence Budgets forecasts real-term declines in Indonesia's defence budget in the near term. Growth is forecast from 2025. (Janes Defence Budgets)
The 2022 military expenditure represents 5% of total government expenditure for the year and about 0.7% of GDP. The downsizing of the budget in 2021 was a result of budget reallocations linked to the pandemic, said the MoF. Some of the defence funds were used to procure vaccines, it said.
According to the MoF, the increase in 2022 over the revised 2021 expenditure is consistent with an effort to “realise the fulfilment of the Minimum Essential Force” (MEF) strategy, the term given to the Indonesian military's modernisation programme.
It said defence budget priorities in 2022 included the accelerated procurement of defence equipment, sustaining and upgrading existing materiel, and improving military infrastructure.
The MoF documents show that ‘modernisation' projects – including procurement and sustainment – will receive IDR43.2 trillion in 2022 while funding for military personnel expenses and welfare has been allocated INR12 trillion. Both are small increases over the original allocations in 2021.
The remainder of funds in 2022 will be split across operations, infrastructure investment, research and development, and ‘defence resources'.
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