KSP Says Disbursement Of BLT Village Funds Is Still Administrative Constraints

JAKARTA - The Presidential Staff Office conveyed that the distribution of Village Fund Direct Cash Assistance (BLT-DD) was still experiencing administrative problems in the field.

This was conveyed by Deputy III of the Presidential Chief of Staff Panutan Sulendrakusuma, after monitoring the distribution of Village Fund BLT in Karawang, West Java, December 2-3.

"The distribution of BLT Village Funds in the field still faces obstacles, including technical administrative problems and budget constraints," Panutan said in a press release quoted by Antara, Friday, December 3.

The role model said that coordination with the technical ministry needed to be carried out immediately so that the implementation mechanism in the field was not difficult. "So we need a more effective and efficient mechanism," said the role model.

President Joko Widodo has instructed to accelerate the eradication of extreme poverty in 7 provinces and 35 priority districts with a target of 0 percent by 2024.

To achieve this, this year the government will increase the amount of Village Fund Direct Cash Assistance (BLT-DD) and Non-Cash Food Assistance (BPNT).

"Each is budgeted at IDR 300,000 for three months," said the role model.

As for the budget issue, Panutan said, in accordance with the provisions, if the village funds are not sufficient for additional village BLT, the district/city government funds will be used.

"If it is still not sufficient, then use provincial government funds," he said.

Panutan added, KSP will immediately coordinate with ministries/agencies and stakeholders to carry out debottlenecking and acceleration steps, so that all assistance can be received quickly and on target.

In addition, coordination and data consolidation from village, district, provincial and central governments were also strengthened. So that the dynamics that arise in the field can be addressed quickly," he said.

As is known, extreme poverty is defined as a condition when people's income is less than the purchasing power parity (PPP) standard of 1.9 US dollars. On that basis, the extreme poverty rate in Indonesia in 2021 is set at 4 percent of the total population of Indonesia, or 10.86 million people.

In dealing with extreme poverty, this year the government provides BLT top up assistance to 694,000 Beneficiary Families (KPM), which is planned to be distributed by the end of this year. Meanwhile, basic food cards will be distributed to 1.4 million KPM.