Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – The government has spent just over 10 percent of the total 2012 capital spending budget in the first quarter of the year, Deputy Finance Minister Anny Ratnawati says.

Anny said that the government aims to disburse 25 percent of capital spending, also known as infrastructure spending, by the end July. "By then, most of them [projects] will have begun tenders and some of the first-term payments will have been made," she said.

This means that 75 percent of capital spending allocated in the 2012 budget will be disbursed in the third and fourth quarters, a situation that has been criticized by many economists as one of the major factors that has hindered Indonesia from reaching its best potential economic growth through infrastructure development.

Anny, however, said that the current rate of disbursement was better than in previous years. "The rate recorded in this year's first quarter was three-times that recorded last year," she said.

The state has allocated Rp 168.87 trillion (US$18.23 billion) for capital spending this year.