Ten kilograms of rice assistance will be disbursed every month to beneficiary families, he said.
"The plan was to end the rice assistance in November (2023), then it was extended to December. Now, the government has decided to extend it again until the second quarter of 2024 in June," he informed at the Presidential Palace Complex in Jakarta on Monday.
According to the minister, the decision has been taken as part of the government's efforts to control the price of rice, which has not declined after experiencing a drastic increase some time ago.
"The rice assistance will continue considering the rice prices, which are still quite high," he stated.
According to Hasan, the 10-kg rice assistance would be disbursed to 22 million beneficiary families.
The government's rice reserve stock, which is managed by state-run logistics company Bulog, reached 1,442,945 tons as of November 2, 2023, with the realization of food aid distribution reaching 94.95 percent in September, 94.89 percent in October, and 18.45 percent in November.
According to Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, Bulog is ready to increase the availability of rice reserves.
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has also ordered Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati to immediately pay Bulog Rp16 trillion for the rice procurement.
Hartarto said that Bulog has additional budget requirements, namely for the first batch of rice imports amounting to Rp7.9 trillion, followed by the second batch of Rp8.4 trillion, and Rp2.8 trillion for the distribution cost.
"Earlier, President Jokowi asked Minister Indrawati to immediately pay for Bulog's bill, which has accumulated to Rp16 trillion," he added.
The National Food Agency (Bapanas) is also coordinating with Bulog to prepare additional rice stock for late 2023 and early 2024 to anticipate the impact of the El Nino phenomenon.
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Translator: Indra Arief P, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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