REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The government has allowed the deficit to widen in the 2016 draft state budget for the sake of its ambitious infrastructure program.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) proposed a draft state budget to the parliament on Saturday with a deficit of 2.1 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

In 2015, the state budget deficit target was set at 1.9 percent of the GDP with state spending set at Rp1,984.6 trillion as against state income of Rp1,761.6 trillion.

The president said the policy in spending is concentrated on increasing productivity, increasing the role of the private sector and state companies and regional administration in accelerating infrastructure development.