TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsGovt mulls cutting free meal days to ease budget strain
The finance minister says the BGN, which manages the free meals program, has come up with a proposal to save over $2 billion by cutting just one day from the weekly distribution schedule.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Workers prepare trays of food for the free nutritious meals program on Nov. 4, 2025, at the Samarinda Police Nutrition Fulfillment Service Unit (SPPG) in Samarinda Ulu district, Samarinda, East Kalimantan. (Antara/M Risyal Hidayat)
T
he government is considering reducing the weekly distribution schedule of the free nutritious meals program from six to five days, as part of its efficiency measures to ease pressure on the state budget amid rising energy prices due to geopolitical tensions, namely the United States-Israel war on Iran.
Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa said the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), which manages the program, had floated the change at a meeting with the coordinating economy minister.
According to the agency’s preliminary calculations, the adjustment could save the state budget up to Rp 40 trillion (US$2.4 billion) over a full fiscal year.
“If I’m not mistaken, Saturdays have been eliminated. [The program] usually serves [meals] six days a week, but [it is now only] five days,” Purbaya said on Wednesday, as quoted by CNBC Indonesia.
Read also: Self-reliance ‘common sense’, Prabowo says, as war tests global order
The minister said the proposed cut was a preemptive measure to create a fiscal buffer against external pressures, particularly the ripple effects of the war in the Middle East that had led to volatility of oil supplies and prices.
Purbaya underlined that the Rp 40 trillion in potential savings was separate from the broader efficiency target set by President Prabowo Subianto.
