Jakarta (ANTARA) - Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) has sped up the distribution of social assistance under the family hope program (PKH) and non-cash food assistance (BPNT) for beneficiary families (KPM) throughout Indonesia.

"We accelerated the distribution of social aid for the beneficiary families in accordance with President Joko Widodo's command and the result of the ministers’ coordination meeting on July 22," Director of BNI Royke Tumilaar stated in Jakarta on Monday.

Tumilaar noted that expediting the distribution of social assistance can help the government strengthen social safety nets for the people in need.

The BNI has collaborated with the provincial, district, and city Government; social service agencies; COVID-19 Task Force; and social assistance units for distributing the social aid, the director noted.

The BNI has employed various means to accelerate distribution, such as by providing information to beneficiary families to immediately reimburse their social aid comprising the BPNT, in three phases at once, starting from step VII, VIII, and IX. In addition, the BNI will distribute phase one of the PKH social aid.

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The second approach is to remind e-Warong or Agen46 for social aid distributors to ensure the availability of logistics at reasonable prices; ascertaining the readiness of EDC machines at e-Warong or Agen46; guaranteeing all BNI's ATMs are operational round-the-clock with sufficient cash; and to remind BNI officers and KPM to apply strict health protocols during transactions at e-Warongs, Agen46, or ATM.

Tumilaar later noted that the BNI had readied over 51 thousand Agen46 for social aid distributors and over 17 thousand ATM machines for social aid transactions.

"We urged all KPM recipients to immediately cash out their social aid through e-Warong, Agen46, or BNI's ATMs," he stated.

The Ministry of Social Affairs has tasked the BNI with distributing BPNT for 5.7 million KPM, with the amount totaling Rp9.46 trillion. The BNI is also responsible for delivering Rp7.05 trillion of social aid for PKH across 108 cities and districts. Related news: Social assistance handed out to PPKM-impacted families: ministry



Translator: Kuntum Riswan, Resinta Sulisti
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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