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Legislators and business leaders are criticizing the draft of the 2010 state budget presented by the president on Aug. 3, saying that growth targets are too conservative while allocations are too low.

Members of the House of Representatives slammed the draft budget during a plenary session on Friday, arguing that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s 5 percent full-year growth target was too conservative, at a time when many analysts sense the potential to ratchet up much higher national growth rates.

Some legislators also criticized the proposal for not allocating enough money to infrastructure and agriculture projects.

The government’s 2010 growth target of 5 percent is higher than its forecast of 4.3 percent for this year, but United Development Party (PPP) spokesman Zainud Tauhid Sa’adi said that the national economy could grow by as much as 5.5 percent next year, due to expectations that household consumption would increase significantly on the back of relatively low inflation.

“The government’s inflation target should support the economic growth target,” Zainud said, adding that full-year inflation has been estimated at a relatively low rate of 5 percent. “The economy should be able to grow at a higher rate.”

National Mandate Party (PAN) legislator M Musawir, meanwhile, criticized the government’s Rp 93.9 trillion ($9.48 billion) infrastructure spending target for 2010, which is less than the Rp 102.7 trillion allocated in the revised 2009 budget.

MS Hidayat, chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), last week urged the government to raise the budget deficit to 2 percent of gross domestic product next year, from 1.6 percent this year, to accommodate additional infrastructure spending.

Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker Rama Pratama also lashed out at the government’s proposal to cut agricultural spending from Rp 8.1 trillion this year to Rp 7.9 trillion in 2010.

Rama said the proposed spending cuts showed that the government was not committed to efforts to revitalize the agricultural sector and make it a key part of the economy, along with the manufacturing and energy sectors.

Meanwhile, the state-run Antara news agency on Monday quoted Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati as saying that the economy could grow by up to 6 percent next year. “First-half growth was not as bad as we had predicted,” she said, adding that the ministry expected the economy to continue to improve.

Anggito Abimanyu, head of fiscal policy at the Ministry of Finance, on Friday said that 6 percent growth was “possible” as long as growth was supported by sufficient investment. “The global economy seems to be recovering,” he said.