Wage subsidy assistance will continue until 2021Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government has so far distributed Rp5.84 trillion in wage subsidy, in two tranches, to 4.87 million people, or 89.45 percent of the target of 5.5 million workers.
"Wage subsidy assistance will continue until 2021," Coordinating Minister (Menko) for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, said in a written statement in Jakarta on Saturday.
The government allocated Rp3 trillion to provide the first tranche of wage subsidies to 2.5 million workers.
Meanwhile, it has allocated a budget of Rp3.6 trillion to release the second tranche of subsidies to 3 million workers. In all, the subsidies will cover 5.5 million workers.
The government has launched the wage subsidy for workers and laborers earning an income of less than Rp5 million to ease their financial burden and help them maintain their purchasing power amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
A budget of Rp37.7 trillion has been set aside for the program, which is targeted to cover 15.7 million workers and laborers, with the quantum of assistance amounting to Rp2.4 million.
Meanwhile, as part of the release of the third tranche of subsidies, the Workers Social Security Agency (BPJS Ketenagakerjaan) submitted the account data of 3.5 million prospective recipients to the Ministry of Manpower (Kemenaker) on Tuesday (September 8, 2020).
The Ministry of Manpower has four days to verify the data submitted by BPJS Ketenagakerjaan before submitting any data, which will then be sent to the State Treasury Service Office (KPPN).
The KPPN, on its part, will release the wage subsidy funds to the Association of State-Owned Banks (Himbara), which has been assigned as a distributor for the aid program. The Himbara, in turn, will transfer a subsidy of Rp600,000 per month for four months to the workers' personal accounts at both state and private banks. (INE)
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Translator: Dewa K, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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