The Manpower Ministry has issued a ministerial regulation and the DIPA (budget execution list) was issued. Hence, starting from today, August 24, (the aid) can be disbursed for its first phase
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The government, on Monday, began the first phase of disbursement of aid for formal workers, with monthly income below Rp5 million, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati stated.

"The Manpower Ministry has issued a ministerial regulation and the DIPA (budget execution list) was issued. Hence, starting from today, August 24, (the aid) can be disbursed for its first phase," Indrawati noted during a working meeting with Commission XI of the House of Representatives here on Monday.

The aid will be disbursed to 15.7 million workers whose monthly salary is below Rp5 million and are registered on the Workers Social Security Agency (BPJS Ketenagakerjaan) database.

"They should be registered with the BPJS Ketenagakerjaan (until) June 2020 and have a bank account," she remarked.

Non-permanent teachers would feature among beneficiaries of the aid of Rp2.4 million per individual and should be registered in the employees' social insurance (BP Jamsostek) and in the database of the Education and Culture Ministry as well as the State Apparatus and Bureaucracy Reform Ministry, Indrawati noted.

Under the program, the workers will receive Rp600 thousand monthly for a period of four months to be disbursed in two stages.

"The aid will be transferred in two disbursements. Budget for this reaches Rp37.87 trillion," she stated.

Earlier, Chief of the Task Force for National Economic Transformation and Recovery (PEN) Budi Gunadi Sadikin noted that the aid is specifically for formal workers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic that had yet to be covered under the government's social safety net program.

Several of them were compelled to take unpaid leave, while others faced salary cuts due to a slack in business, he stated.

The government had earlier offered social assistance to low-income households impacted by the pandemic through the Family Hope Program (PKH), Basic Needs Card, cash transfer (BLT), village fund cash transfer, and interest rate subsidy for micro-, small-, and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs).

Sadikin, concurrently deputy state enterprises minister, pointed to the government’s social assistance offered to 29 million of the poorest families, or some 120 million people.

In addition, the government launched a Pre-Employment Card for laid-off workers.

"We see this group of workers (formal workers) is yet to be covered under those programs. The president has instructed (us) to design a program to help these workers," he added.

The aid is expected to boost the people's purchasing power that can help in stimulating economic activity, Sadikin expounded.
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Translator: Astrid FH, Sri Haryati
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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