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Jakarta Post

Govt considers additional funding for free meals program

The government is considering seeking additional funding to achieve this year’s full recipient target for President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free nutritious meals program amid struggles to cover ballooning costs.

Ni Made Tasyarani (The Jakarta Post)
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Tue, January 21, 2025

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Govt considers additional funding for free meals program Students eat lunch as part of the free nutritious meals program on Jan. 6, 2025, at a school in Jakarta. (Reuters/Willy Kurniawan)

T

he government is considering seeking additional funds to achieve this year’s full free nutritious meals program recipient target amid struggles to cover the ballooning costs.

The budget that has been allocated for President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free nutritious meals program this year amounts to Rp 71 trillion [US$4.3 billion].

With that amount, it is set to serve 3 million recipients from 937 caterers in January to April, gradually increasing to 6 million from 2,000 caterers by August and to between 15 and 17.5 million from 5,000 caterers between late August to December, the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) said.

As of Jan.17, the agency had partnered with 238 caterers spread across 31 provinces in the archipelago, up from 190 caterers in 26 provinces when the program was first rolled out on Jan. 6.

However, the total number of beneficiaries from these targets is still far below the initial number set to reach 82.9 million this year.

“The main target is 82.9 million [recipients], so [we] obviously [need more funding],” BGN head Dadan Hindayana confirmed to The Jakarta Post on Jan. 14 when asked whether the agency would seek additional funds for the program.

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On Jan. 17, Dadan conveyed after a meeting at the State Palace that Prabowo had expressed concerns over many students that have yet to benefit from the program and said that “he’s thinking about getting additional funds”.

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