"We hope that once again with this assistance, household consumption will not be disturbed, people's purchasing power will increase, and we hope that our country's economic growth will return to its normal position. Those are what (the outcomes) we want," he said at the State Palace here on Thursday.
The President made the remarks while symbolically handing over salary subsidies to 15 representatives of subsidy recipients, who include honorary teachers, honorary firefighters, hotel employees, nurses, and cleaners.
The government will provide a salary subsidy of Rp600,000 per month for four months, or a total of Rp2.4 million, to 15,725,232 private workers and temporary employees of government agencies, who are earning less than Rp5 million per month as wages, and who registered for the BPJS manpower insurance program by 30 June, 2020.
The distribution of subsidies is being carried out twice, with Rp1.2 million disbursed in each round.
In the first phase, salary subsidies were channeled through state-owned banks to 2.5 million workers whose data had been verified.
At the launch of the salary subsidy program, the President chatted with several aid workers who qualified for the aid.
On the occasion, the President stated that the COVID-19 vaccine is expected to be produced in December, 2020 or January, 2021.
He said he was hopeful that the vaccination would help resolve the pandemic problem. "And God Willing, we will return to our normalcy," Jokowi remarked.
Related news: Cash labor-intensive program in water resource absorbs 163,003 workers
Related news: Business continuity of MSMEs hinges on boosting purchasing power
Translator: Desca LN, Fardah
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2020
