"Subsidies for the low income group will still be needed for a long time as the income of most of our people is now still very low," he said here on Wednesday.
He said according to National Bureau of Statistics data 67 percent of Indonesians work in the informal sector and around 75 percent of them only had enjoyed junior high school or lower education.
"But it is correct to say that the fuel subsidy will in the long run be scrapped as it is not good for renewable energy development efforts and for our efforts to preserve the environment," he said.
He said a subsidy for the low income group to buy fuel oil would still be provided but it would not be given through the fuel price as it would then not meet the target.
"So, the subsidy for the low income group will be given directly," he said.
The National Energy Council at a meeting with Vice President Boediono on Tuesday suggested scrapping the direct fuel subsidy on the ground that it was not a sound policy.
The suggestion had already been incorporated in a draft presidential decree that was now still being discussed by the Council.
It would still take several meetings before the draft could be signed by the President for implementation.(*)
(H-YH/HAJM/S012)
Editor: Ruslan Burhani
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
