The government will start providing additional social assistance as a form of diverting fuel subsidies amounting to Rp24.17 trillionJakarta (ANTARA) - The government will provide aid of Rp24.17 trillion to the community as additional social assistance for the planned transfer of fuel (BBM) subsidies.
"The government will start providing additional social assistance as a form of diverting fuel subsidies amounting to Rp24.17 trillion," Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati stated during an online statement after attending a meeting with President Joko Widodo here, Monday.
At the meeting that discussed the transfer of fuel subsidies, it was decided that the public would receive social assistance in order to increase the purchasing power, especially to respond to the tendency of rising prices from global influences in recent times.
According to Indrawati, out of the total social assistance of Rp24.17 trillion, the community will be given three types of assistance in the form of social support: direct cash assistance of Rp150 thousand for four times for 20.65 million community groups, with the budget totaling Rp12.4 trillion.
Direct cash assistance of Rp300 thousand will be paid by the Ministry of Social Affairs twice, through various channels of the Indonesian Post Office.
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Second, wage subsidy assistance to 16 million workers, with a maximum salary of Rp3.5 million per month, amounting to Rp600 thousand is paid once, with a budget of Rp9.6 trillion.
Thirdly, payments will also be made by local governments using two percent of the general transfer funds, specifically the general allocation fund (DAU) and revenue sharing funds (DBH) reaching as much as Rp2.17 trillion in order to help the transportation sector, such as public transportation, motorcycle taxis and even fishermen and additional social protection.
Indrawati remarked that the assistance to be distributed this week is expected to reduce pressure on the community and reduce poverty.
The government can lower the huge subsidy burden from the state budget by ensuring accurate subsidy distribution and redirecting the sum for other beneficial purposes, the House of Representatives (DPR RI) Budget Committee earlier stated.
"It is to ensure that the state budget will benefit residents more, as the subsidy will be redirected to poorer residents, who need (the subsidy direly). The approach can also reduce harmful effects of inflation on poor households," DPR RI Budget Committee Chair Said Abdullah noted in a statement here, Friday.
The Rp502 trillion (US$33.6 billion) vehicle fuel subsidy budget is ideally redirected to develop public sectors that will benefit residents, such as education, healthcare, energy infrastructure, and other sectors, he remarked.
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According to Abdullah, the huge subsidy can be used instead to develop 3,501 kilometers of toll roads, 3,333 mid-level hospitals, 41,666 new public health centres, and 227,886 primary schools.
The government can redirect the subsidy only to a particular group, such as to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in need of fuel for their daily production, he stated.
The subsidy can also be reallocated to boost Indonesia's food resilience, especially as the country still needs to import basic food commodities, such as meat, vegetables, sugar, and soybean, despite achieving self-sufficiency in rice, he noted.
"Food self-sufficiency is essential because our dependence on food imports (makes us) vulnerable to various economic risks that affect the people and our fiscal balance," the budget committee chair stated.
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Translator: Rangga P, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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