While the real stunting reduction effort is the provision of nutritional food (spending on) that only reached Rp34 trillion. The amount of money used to actually prevent and reduce stunting was so little because there were 283 other sub-activities…Jakarta (ANTARA) - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said that just Rp34 trillion out of the total budget allocation of Rp77 trillion for the stunting fund directly benefited toddlers and pregnant women.
She made the remark at the launch of the synchronization of the Work Plan and Budget of Ministries and Institutions (Renja-RKA), which was followed virtually from Jakarta on Tuesday.
She informed that 283 stunting sub-activities were carried out by local governments with the total fund allocation of Rp77 trillion, while the second highest budget allocation of Rp240 billion was made for coordination activities.
"While the real stunting reduction effort is the provision of nutritional food (spending on) that only reached Rp34 trillion. The amount of money used to actually prevent and reduce stunting was so little because there were 283 other sub-activities, including repairing the fences of community health centers (puskesmas)," she said.
According to her, the government has much work to do regarding stunting prevention. Efficient budget spending would determine the quality of life of the Indonesian people.
"The more we use the budget properly, the more people will feel the benefits. The economy will also grow and become resilient in facing global situations, including turbulence, tension, and various issues in the world," she said.
Therefore, through planning and budgeting synchronization, effective use of the state budget can be increased to achieve national development goals and meet expected targets, including reduced stunting rates, low inflation, and high investment, the minister added.
Meanwhile, Minister of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Abdullah Azwar Anas said that his ministry implemented online consultations on stunting prevention to cut travel costs of bringing officials or guests to the ministerial office. The step helped save on the costs of bringing 85 percent of guests to the ministry.
"Usually, after we release new regulations, many guests visit us and it requires a budget for food and beverages. We hope our online consultation regulation can help to cut the budget," he added.
Thus, the efficiencies in the government's official travel budget of Rp75 billion can be allocated to stunting handling, he noted.
"By saving travel budget amounting to Rp75 billion, we can allocate it to help 14,700 stunted babies who need our help," the minister said.
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Translator: Martha Herlinawati S, Resinta S
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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