ANN/THE JAKARTA POST – Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free nutritious meal programme is set to receive IDR171 trillion (USD10.36 billion) this year, marking a significant increase from the previously allocated IDR71 trillion.
The funding boost was confirmed by Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati in an Instagram post.
The additional IDR100 trillion comes from a sweeping budget reallocation of IDR250 trillion, which includes cuts across ministries, state agencies, and regional administrations. The redirected funds will support both the meal programme and Indonesia’s new sovereign wealth fund, Daya Anagata Nusantara (Danantara).
“The programme aims not only to ensure adequate nutritional intake for children and vulnerable groups but also to ease household financial burdens and stimulate the local economy,” Sri Mulyani said.
As of mid-March, the Finance Ministry had disbursed IDR710.5 billion – about one per cent of the original IDR71 trillion budget – benefiting approximately two million recipients. The majority were schoolchildren, alongside 1,835 pregnant women and 2,613 breastfeeding mothers.
Elementary school students made up nearly half of the beneficiaries, followed by junior and senior high school students. Sri Mulyani also noted that as of March 12, the programme had established 726 nutritional fulfilment service units (SPPG), comprising caterers responsible for meal distribution.
National Nutrition Agency (BGN) head Dadan Hindayana told reporters on February 12 that a large chunk of the state budget savings would be channelled to the free meals programme.
He added that the exact amount would depend on when the agency was ready to deploy the full-scale programme, which was projected to begin in September at the soonest.
According to Dadan, operating the full programme needs IDR25 trillion per month, so the additional IDR100 trillion injection was expected to cover this cost for the four months until the end of this year, provided that it launched in September as planned.
The original plan for the free meals programme was designed to expand gradually in several stages over the course of the five-year term of President Prabowo Subianto.
The full-scale implementation was initially scheduled for sometime midway through his presidency, though early estimates put 2029 as a more realistic timing.
However, the President announced in January that the programme would be fully implemented by the end of 2025.
Under its initial budget of IDR71 trillion for this year, the programme was supposed to cover 17.9 million beneficiaries, but then the government increased its fund to IDR171 trillion and expanded its target to 82.9 million schoolchildren, teachers, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers.
The estimated cost per fiscal year for the full programme is IDR460 trillion, though Prabowo has expressed confidence on multiple occasions that his administration will be able to raise such a staggering amount.
