"The economic stimulus program must also properly reach out to those involved in rice production, it means reaching our farmers," President Joko Widodo said during a limited cabinet meeting on anticipating the nation's staple food requirement, held via video conferencing from the Bogor Presidential Palace.
President Jokowi asked officials to continue to maintain food production to cater to domestic needs.
"Keep on maintaining food production to keep it running normally, and make sure farmers keep producing," the Head of State directed officials.
"Make sure farmers continue to produce by implementing good health protocols and the economic stimulus programs runs in the right direction," he urged officials.
In the meantime, the government has raised the budget for COVID-19 mitigation to Rp405.1 trillion in the 2020 fiscal budget. The budget is yet to include the economic recovery program and stimulus for businesses.
Jokowi had earlier urged ministries to ensure that the economic stimulus package is optimally implemented to salvage the real sector that absorbs the maximum number of workers and to avoid layoffs over the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Hence, we need the rescue effort in the form of an economic stimulus that touches the most affected sectors. This is since the real sector has absorbed a significant number of workers. I hope they would be able to survive and not have to lay off workers," Jokowi remarked while opening a virtual limited meeting on mitigating the impact of COVID-19 at the Merdeka Palace recently.
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Translator: Hanni Sofia, Fardah
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2020
