Vice President Ma'ruf Wonder, LPG Subsidies Reach Rp. 54 Trillion But Poor People Don't Enjoy It

JAKARTA - Vice President Ma'ruf Amin regrets the imbalance in the target beneficiaries of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) subsidies, which are mostly enjoyed by the wealthy community.

The Vice President said that only 35 percent of the poor and vulnerable have benefited from the LPG subsidy from the Government.

Meanwhile, the other 65 percent are actually enjoyed by groups of people with a higher level of welfare.

"Of course this is ironic, because the allocation of LPG subsidies is very large and tends to increase," said Vice President Ma'ruf in his scientific oration at the V and Lustrum I of Pertamina University in 2020 online, Monday, February 1.

In addition, there are still many people who use wood fuel in their daily cooking. In fact, the government has increased the LPG subsidy budget to Rp. 54 trillion and provided 7.5 metric tons of LPG for the community.

"Even though the Government in 2021 allocates a budget of around Rp. 54 trillion for LPG subsidies and provides LPG up to 7.5 million metric tons for the community, there are still more than 12.51 million poor and vulnerable households in Indonesia who cook using firewood," he explained.

In order to minimize the inequality of subsidies, Vice President Ma'ruf asked the line ministries to establish policies that favor the vulnerable and poor.

He also asked related ministries to review energy subsidy policies so that they can be accessed by all levels of society and able to encourage government budget savings, so as to strengthen national energy security.

"As Chairman of the National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction (TNP2K), I have requested that energy policies should also be pro-poor and vulnerable to promote justice for energy access and ultimately promote national energy security," he said.