"On Thursday, the Director General of Village and Rural Areas Development will convey (the regulations) to all village government officials and related regional governments in detail," the Ministry's Director of Facilitation for Village Fund Utilization, Luthfy Latief, remarked in Jakarta on Thursday.
According to Latief, the PDTT Ministry will provide village government officials with information on two new regulations in Jakarta. The regulations are PDTT Minister's Regulation (Permendes) on detailed priorities for the use of Village Fund and Permendes regarding operational guidelines for the fund's utilization.
Both regulations constitute follow-ups to Government Regulation No.37 of 2023 concerning the management of transfer to regions, which is the revision to Government Regulation No.60 of 2014.
Latief noted that the new regulations would serve as the main reference for rural governments in managing and utilizing Village Fund in 2024 and going forward.
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He affirmed that the two regulations constitute long-term provisions that would only be revised when they are deemed as being no longer relevant with the dynamics and needs of rural communities.
In principle, the regulations will guide rural governments to manage the Village Fund they receive for helping to handle stunting prevalence issues.
The regulations also encompass provisions regarding the use of Village Fund for distributing direct cash assistance and strengthening food resilience, he remarked.
Hence, Latief expressed belief that all officials of rural governments need to fully comprehend the two regulations in the hopes of improving the management and accuracy of the use of Village Fund.
Earlier, the Finance Ministry stated that the government had allocated Rp71 trillion (US$4.5 billion) for Village Fund in the 2024 draft state budget (RAPBN), an increase of 1.42 percent as compared to that in 2023.
The government is aiming to distribute the Village Fund to as many as 75,265 villages in 434 districts and cities across Indonesia.
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Translator: M Riezko, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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