Bali's 2027 Budget Debate Turns to School Funding and Infrastructure

In brief: Provincial lawmakers scrutinised Bali's proposed 2027 budget on 26 October, with a projected deficit of roughly Rp476 billion. They raised concerns about capital investment and education allocations, while the administration said it would review their objections before the budget is finalised.

Lawmakers challenge the funding plan behind a Rp475.95bn gap

Bali's provincial government first presented the 2027 budget proposal on 7 September. The latest hearing, on 26 October, concerned the legislature's response to that proposal, not a newly approved budget. Figures cited by the Gerindra–PSI parliamentary group put planned revenue at approximately Rp5.72 trillion and expenditure at Rp6.19 trillion, leaving a projected deficit of Rp475.95 billion. The published headline figures are rounded, so subtracting them does not reproduce the precise deficit.

Funding the gap involves more than matching revenue with ordinary expenditure. Lawmakers also identified about Rp753.46 billion of financing outflows, bringing the total planned financing requirement to roughly Rp1.229 trillion. The proposed funding relies on the anticipated unspent balance from the 2026 fiscal year, known as SiLPA in Indonesia's public-finance system. Legislators asked whether that balance will actually be available, including any portion already earmarked for specific uses. The 2026 closing balance remains a projection at this stage.

Infrastructure investment and education draw scrutiny

The draft allocates around Rp337 billion to capital expenditure, about 5.5% of the province's proposed spending. Several parliamentary groups questioned whether that leaves sufficient capacity for water systems, irrigation, waste management, transport bottlenecks and other public needs. Their comments identify competing priorities; they do not establish which individual projects will lose funding.

Education is another point of contention. The Demokrat–NasDem group cited a reduction in the proposed allocation for Bali's provincial education, youth and sports department, from more than Rp1.9 trillion in 2026 to more than Rp1.3 trillion in 2027. Deputy Governor I Nyoman Giri Prasta attributed some of the nominal decline to lower revenue-sharing transfers from the central government. He said education's share under the broader functional classification stood at 21%, above the 20% statutory benchmark. A department's allocation and spending classified by function are different measures, so the percentages alone cannot establish the impact on an individual school.

The draft must still go through further review

Giri Prasta said on 26 October that the provincial administration intended to restrain the deficit during implementation. The government budget team is expected to examine the parliamentary groups' comments, continue discussions with legislators and submit the proposed budget for review by Indonesia's Ministry of Home Affairs. No revised final figure was announced at the hearing.

For residents planning to remain on Bali next year, the final programme allocations will be more informative than the province-wide deficit alone. Local road works, schools and utility services may also fall under city or regency budgets, which should be considered separately. Neither an immediate cut in a specific public service nor the cancellation of a particular project can be inferred from the 26 October debate.