Jakarta (ANTARA) – Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa expressed his commitment to maintaining the State Budget (APBN) deficit, in response to concerns of Standard & Poor's Global Ratings (S&P) regarding Indonesia's debt service ratio.”There are slight concerns about our debt service to tax revenue ratio, but I assure them that it can be controlled and has not yet reached a dangerous level,” Purbaya said in his statement on Thursday.According to the minister, S&P inquired in detail about Indonesia's fiscal condition, including its consistency in maintaining the deficit below the 3 percent threshold of GDP.Purbaya explained a possibility that the 2025 State Budget deficit in the Central Government Financial Report (LKPP) will decrease from the initial projection after audit by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).Finance Ministry recorded a provisional realization of the 2025 State Budget deficit at 2.92 percent of GDP. Following results of the final audit, Purbaya noted the deficit is projected to narrow to 2.8 percent of GDP.”I mentioned this to them; there are indications it will decrease to 2.8 percent. And they are very positive about these results,” he said, referring to S&P.Regarding the 2026 State Budget, he conveyed the government’s efforts to improve tax collection as well as customs and excise, including through organizational restructuring.The impact of these improvements is evident in tax collection performance, which recorded growth of around 30 percent in the first two months of 2026. Meanwhile, in March, tax growth was recorded at 20.7 percent, influenced by seasonal factors.In the first three months of 2026, tax revenue was recorded at Rp394.8 trillion (US$23.03 billion), or 16.7 percent of the target set in the 2026 State Budget of Rp2,357.7 trillion (US$137.45 billion).Based on these indicators, Purbaya stated that S&P decided to maintain Indonesia's rating at BBB or moderate degree of safety, with a stable outlook.”What's important is that they also saw our growth improving in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to the previous quarter, and early indicators show that all economic activity has improved,” he noted.