APEKSI Fiscal Consultation, Mayor Encourages Innovation in Original Regional Income

MALANG, Kontroversinews,Com.- The Mayor of Cirebon, Effendi Edo, attended the APEKSI activity with the theme “Fiscal Consultation for Our City, Lessons Learned, Challenges and Good Practices in Management of Original Regional Income (PAD)” in Malang City, on Thursday (6/11/2025).

This activity is an important opportunity for city governments throughout Indonesia to discuss various real strategies for strengthening regional fiscal capacity. The main focus of the discussion was how regions can expand their PAD base through policy innovation, optimizing taxes and levies, as well as more productive management of regional assets.

On that occasion, the Mayor said that the Cirebon City Government together with all participants from various cities took part in activities initiated by the National APEKSI Management as a forum for exchanging experiences between regions. This activity presented speakers from the Ministry of Finance as well as good practice practitioners from several regions.

“For us, this is an important momentum to learn from each other, especially in finding effective ways to increase PAD,” said the Mayor.

Furthermore, he emphasized that the main challenge for regional governments today is not only about budget efficiency, but how to develop sustainable sources of income without increasing the burden on society. According to him, strong regional fiscal policies must be built through service innovation, collaboration with the business sector, and strengthening the role of BUMD.

“Fiscal independence is not just a numerical target, but a process of building a healthy and transparent regional financial system. From there we can drive the local economy and ensure development runs without being too dependent on the central government,” he explained.

The Mayor also invited all forum participants to make this Fiscal Meeting a means of collaboration to strengthen regional fiscal independence. Through synergy, innovation and joint commitment, he is optimistic that each region can become more economically resilient and competitive.

Apart from that, the Mayor hopes that in the future Cirebon City can carry out reforms in the field of regional taxes and levies, as well as developing the potential of other PAD sources to strengthen overall fiscal capacity.

Meanwhile, the Executive Director of APEKSI, Alwis Rustam, emphasized APEKSI’s commitment to continue to encourage the exchange of knowledge and best practices between city governments throughout Indonesia, especially in managing PAD.

“Through various studies, APEKSI collects superior strategies, innovations and policies from various regions as material for developing good practices. Each region has different challenges, and forums like this are the best place to find solutions together,” he said.

Alwis added that the results of the APEKSI study have been published in book form, which contains various topics ranging from digitizing PAD management, strengthening BUMD, to professional and adaptive fiscal governance models.

As part of the activity, participants were also invited to visit a number of locations in Malang City, such as the Bapenda Command Center as a digital control center for tax services, the Gajayana area and the Mbois Gallery as examples of productive asset management, as well as the Malang Creative Center (MCC) which is a center for developing creative economy actors.

The visit demonstrated firsthand how innovation and cross-sector collaboration can strengthen regional fiscal resilience and serve as an inspiration for other city governments in Indonesia.

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