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Govt, Prabowo team deny claim about slash in cost of free meals
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Bintianingsih Miderawati Djiwandono (left), Soedradjad Djiwandono (middle) walk with their son Budisatrio “Budi“ Djiwandono to attend the inauguration of Thomas Djiwandono as deputy finance minister at the Presidential Palace on July 18, 2024. (JP/Deni Ghifari)
T
he transition team of president-elect Prabowo Subianto has denied a plan to slash the price per serving for the flagship free meal program, stressing that no decision has been made yet.
The team’s spokesperson Hasan Nasbi said in a Friday press conference that the team had only fixed on the estimated total budget of Rp 71 trillion (US$4.37 billion), which it had agreed with the ongoing government as part of discussions for next year’s state budget.
“There were two instructions from the president-elect. Pak Prabowo instructed that [the meals] must meet nutritional standards, that’s the first requirement. […] And secondly, the number of beneficiaries must be optimized,” said Hasan.
It was local brokerage Verdhana Sekuritas economist Heriyanto Irawan who first revealed the cut in the planned price per serving in an event hosted by state-owned lender Mandiri’s investment manager arm in July 16, as quoted from Kompas.com.
Read also: Prabowo team vows fiscal prudence amid World Bank, IMF concerns
Heriyanto claimed he had been invited by Prabowo’s transition team to discuss the budget for the free meal program, where he found out the team mulled setting price per serving at Rp 7,500 instead of the initial Rp 15,000.
The idea was to feed more schoolchildren without a need to increase the budget on top of the already planned Rp 71 trillion for next year.
