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Prabowo tells ministries to cut budget for trips, ceremonies
The President has called on top government officials to cut travel and ceremonial expenditures to channel more funds to his administration's housing initiative and food security aims, including his signature free meals program.
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President Prabowo Subianto speaks on Oct. 23, 2024, during his administration’s first cabinet meeting at the Bina Graha presidential office in Central Jakarta. (Antara/Hafidz Mubarak A)
P
resident Prabowo Subianto has called for austerity measures during a cabinet meeting, instructing the heads of ministries, government institutions and agencies to cut spending by reducing official trips and large ceremonies.
“He [explained] that if all official trips were efficient, then maybe that could save funds to guarantee public housing,” Prabowo's communications chief Hasan Nasbi said on Wednesday after the meeting, as quoted by Detik.com.
Prabowo has promised to build 3 million houses per year for underprivileged families as the government struggles to tackle a housing backlog of some 10.7 million units.
Hasan said the President also urged all ministries to cut down on ceremonial events, both national and international, and instead reallocate the saved funds to productive public services and programs.
“This is because we now want to focus on public welfare, food security [and] energy security and to organize the free nutritious meal program,” said the chief spokesperson.
During his first meeting with the newly installed members of his Red and White Cabinet on Oct. 23, the President urged ministers and other senior officials to launch his signature free meals program at schools nationwide by the end of January 2025.
Prabowo also reiterated his aim to achieve self-sufficiency in the production of key staple foods by the end of his five-year term in 2029.
