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View all search resultsFinance minister insists on cutting budget for free meals program
Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has insisted on cutting the state budget allocation for the free nutritious meal (MBG) program if spending on the flagship initiative remains slow.
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An officer carries Muhammad Nizam, 13, a student suffering from food poisoning after eating government-sponsored free school meals, at a makeshift clinic inside a district's hall in Bandung, West Java, Sept. 25, 2025. (Reuters/Willy Kurniawan)
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inance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has insisted on cutting the state budget allocation for the free nutritious meal (MBG) program if spending on the flagship initiative remains slow, though the plan faces opposition from the National Economic Council (DEN).
“By the end of October, if [the budget absorption rate] is low, we will take the money. If [the program costs] more, we’ll add [the budget],” he said on Sunday, as quoted by Kumparan.
Purbaya added that he would keep monitoring the program’s budget absorption to ensure its effectiveness.
“The MBG program will continue rolling out, but we need to ensure it is well implemented [...] if the money is not being used, I will take it,” he warned.
Previously, DEN head Luhut Pandjaitan suggested that the minister maintain the program’s budget.
“We have ensured that the budget absorption has now very much improved. So, it’s unnecessary for the Finance Minister to draw the unabsorbed budget funds,” Luhut said on Friday.
He said funds spent through the program funds were driving economic activity among low-income groups and boosting employment, pointing out that the free meals program had created jobs for some 380,000 people.
