Bigger Free Meals Budget to Add 2 pct Points to Indonesia's Growth, President's Adviser Says

February 1, 2025 | 03:54 pm

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's additional budget of 100 trillion rupiah (US$6.14 billion) for its program to give free meals to school children this year will add nearly 2 percentage points to the country's growth, an aide to President Prabowo Subianto said on Friday.

Prabowo's signature free meal program began earlier this month (January) and had initially targeted reaching about 17.5 million people this year, at a cost of 71 trillion rupiah (US$4.36 billion).

Indonesia's gross domestic product growth target this year is 5.2%.

Hashim Djojohadikusumo, Prabowo's brother and close adviser, on Friday told a forum the president had agreed to top up the budget by 100 trillion rupiah.

Indonesia's finance ministry said on Thursday the program's budget of 171 trillion would reach about 40 million people in 2025. The head of the agency running the project said two weeks ago that Prabowo wanted the additional budget so that meals could be served to nearly 83 million people by year-end, more than a quarter of the population.

The free school meals scheme helped deliver Prabowo an approval rating of nearly 81% in poll this month, based on his first 100 days in office.

But financial markets in Indonesia have been concerned about the cost of the program, the centerpiece of Prabowo's election campaign, warning additional debt to fund it could affect the country's recent hard-won reputation for fiscal prudence.

Hashim said the extra budget would come from spending cuts that Prabowo had ordered his government to make earlier this month.

Indonesia's finance ministry said the spending cuts would amount to 306.7 trillion rupiah, equivalent to about 8% of the total approved spending this year of 3,621.3 trillion rupiah.

Hashim said Prabowo's other flagship program of building 3 million affordable homes per year could be funded by investors through the issuance of housing bonds as well as involving state-owned banks to provide mortgages with longer tenors of up to 30 years.

REUTERS

Editor's Choice: Indonesia Plans New Nuclear Power Plants with 4.3 GW Capacity in Bid for Cleaner Energy

Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News

Indonesia Plans New Nuclear Power Plants with 4.3 GW Capacity in Bid for Cleaner Energy

1 jam lalu

TNI Commander Addresses Ongoing Efforts to Weaken Military Since Reform Era

18 jam lalu

UAE Energy Minister Calls for Transparency in Bilateral Ties with Indonesia

19 jam lalu

Trump 2.0 Poses Economic Challenge for Prabowo Government, Minister Airlangga Says

19 jam lalu

Today's Top 3 News: Top 10 Best Universities to Study Law in 2025, Stanford Leads the Pack

22 jam lalu

Singapore Remains Indonesia's Top Investor, Hong Kong and China Trail Behind

1 hari lalu

Sri Mulyani Urges Financial Institutions Participate in Free Nutritious Meal Program

1 hari lalu

Poor Citizens Urged to Work in Free Nutritious Meal Kitchens, Minister Says

1 hari lalu

TNI Chief Directs Regional Commands to Utilize Idle Land for Free Nutritious Meal Program

1 hari lalu

Government Reports Rp6.7tn in Recovered Corruption Funds in First 3 Months of Prabowo's Term

1 hari lalu