Indonesia suspends MBG programme during school holidays
JAKARTA – The Indonesian government will temporarily suspend the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme during the school holiday period while evaluating the priority programme of President Prabowo Subianto.
Presidential Communication Office spokesperson Muhammad Qodari said the MBG programme evaluation will be conducted by the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), in line with the government's efforts to reduce the programme's operating costs so it does not burden the state budget (APBN).
"During the school holidays, MBG will be suspended so a total evaluation can be carried out," Qodari said at a press conference held on Wednesday (17/6) in Jakarta.
Qodari added that the evaluation will cover the mechanism for calculating incentives, the number of Nutrition Fulfilment Service Units (SPPG) in operation, and the optimisation of beneficiary groups under the MBG programme.
In addition, Qodari said the government is also considering changes to the incentive scheme for SPPG based on the number of beneficiaries reached. The change in the incentive scheme was discussed in a meeting involving the Coordinating Ministry for Food Affairs and BGN several days ago.
"The calculation could save approximately IDR 1 trillion every month. That means it could reach IDR 12 trillion annually," he said, explaining the efficiency from changes to the SPPG incentive scheme.
When the programme resumes, the government will also optimise beneficiaries from groups of breastfeeding mothers, pregnant women, and toddlers. Meanwhile, the future distribution of SPPG will focus on reaching disadvantaged, frontier, and outermost (3T) regions.
"So that these most vulnerable groups can receive the maximum benefits," Qodari said.
Regarding the optimisation of the MBG programme, Qodari explained that BGN is currently evaluating the SPPG assessment or grading system that has been used so far. The results of this evaluation will later be used to determine whether SPPG units are eligible to receive incentives or should have their operations discontinued. (KR/ZH)
