Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung shared Jakarta's experiences in tackling budget challenges through innovation, particularly using creative financing schemes and digitalization.

He recounted when Jakarta's revenue-sharing funds were cut by Rp15 trillion, from Rp95 trillion to Rp81 trillion. In that situation, Pramono instructed his subordinates not to complain and to focus on innovative solutions.

He conveyed this while opening the Innovative Government Award (IGA) 2025 event and receiving the award at Kempinski Grand Ballroom, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday (10/12).

"I told all City Hall officials not to complain even once. What did we do? We implemented what is called creative financing," said Pramono.

He explained that creative financing is an effort to ensure the quality of Jakarta's development does not decline. One way is by opening up cooperation opportunities as widely as possible with any party.

Pramono cited an example of creative financing by charging fees for naming bus stops along Sudirman-Thamrin.

"Before, bus stops didn't have names. Now all bus stops have names. Why? Because there is a fee. We apply this everywhere," he mentioned.

Moreover, the Jakarta Provincial Government also introduced innovation ahead of Christmas and New Year by holding a competition among shopping centers to offer the biggest possible discounts.

The bigger the discount offered, the lower the taxes imposed. This policy aims to increase visitor numbers and curb inflation.

"I'm confident that if people come because of discounts, there will be more visitors, and inflation will be controlled. We target inflation in Jakarta at 2.5 to 2.7 percent, and I believe it will be achieved," he stated.

Regarding digitalization, Pramono also offered regional heads the opportunity to learn from the Jakarta Provincial Government's application, JAKI. This app functions to monitor civil servants, community behavior, and more.

The governor highlighted digitalization as the key for Jakarta to become a global city. To encourage this, the city government held a competition for traditional markets to adopt digital payments using QRIS.

The competition involved Bank Indonesia and the Financial Services Authority (OJK) as judges, as well as major banks such as Himbara, BCA, and Bank Jakarta. As a result, digitalization in Jakarta increased by 47 percent after the competition.

"With innovative approaches like this, I believe each region has its own way. And certainly, Jakarta is also eager to learn from other regions," he noted.

The event, according to Yusharto Huntoyungo, Head of BSKDN at the Ministry of Home Affairs, focused on building a stronger innovation ecosystem through multisector collaboration to enhance regional independence and competitiveness.

The Innovative Government Award (IGA) is carried out based on Law (UU) No. 23/2014, Government Regulation No. 38/2017, and Minister of Home Affairs Regulation No. 104/2018.

In general, the IGA assessment involves four key stages: the selection stage, measurement stage, regional head presentation stage, and field validation stage.

"The IGA evaluation team consists of representatives from various institutions, ministries, agencies, practitioners, and media,” he explained.