"I have explained that the fund in the Finance Ministry is not purely used for poverty alleviation. It is a social protection budget fund," Minister Muhadjir Effendy said on the sidelines of a working visit to Semarang, Central Java, on Tuesday.
Apart from tackling poverty, social protection funds are also intended for providing subsidies, such as fuel oil (BBM) subsidies, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and the National Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Health) contributions for the poor.
"We subsidize the contribution fee of BPJS Health for some of our people; it is included in the social protection fund. Not all of them are used directly to the poor," he informed.
Meanwhile, he said that the budget that was specifically intended for the poor stood at Rp72 trillion in 2022.
"In 2022, the Ministry of Social Affairs had prepared a budget amounting to Rp72 trillion for poor families. Of course, there was assistance from village funds, district special allocation funds (DAK), and provincial DAK as well, but not as much as Rp500 trillion," he added.
The polemic surrounding the Rp500-trillion poverty alleviation fund emerged after the Minister of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform, Abdullah Azwar Anas, highlighted the use of the poverty budget by ministries/agencies.
Anas said that the budget of Rp500 trillion for reducing poverty and all its existing ecosystems is expected to have a more significant impact on poverty reduction.
"This includes the President's direction regarding poverty-related budgets that cannot be spent on matters that do not have a direct impact on poverty reduction, such as repeated seminars or centralized socialization programs in big cities, which should be reduced by virtual alternatives," he added.
In response, Effendy said: "Minister Anas has a point. Before conveying his thought, he must have data on that. He asked that the fund must be optimized for the poor and not other purposes."
Related news: Regional heads know actions needed to end extreme poverty: President
Related news: 2023 state budget focused on employment, poverty alleviation: Jokowi
Translator: Zuhdiar Laeis, Resinta S
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2023
