Sri Mulyani Asked To Pay IDR 16 Trillion Debt To Bulog, Coordinating Minister Airlangga: Presidential Direction

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) asked Finance Minister Sri Mulyani to immediately pay off a debt of Rp. 16 trillion to Perum Bulog for the procurement of imported rice.

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto detailed that Perum Bulog has additional budget needs, namely for the first phase of rice imports of Rp7.9 trillion, then the second stage of Rp8.4 trillion and the distribution cost of Rp2.8 trillion.

"Earlier, the President's direction was that the Minister of Finance was asked to immediately pay off Bulog's accumulated bill of Rp. 16 trillion," said Airlangga, quoted from ANTARA, Monday, November 6.

Airlangga said Jokowi had approved food assistance next year which would be given from January to June 2024.

The government decided to provide social assistance in the form of 10 kilograms of rice given since 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic was still distributed until 2024.

The government has allocated 10 kilograms of rice assistance for 22,004,077 beneficiaries through Non-Cash Food Assistance (BPNT) and the Family Hope Program (PKH), then 1,446,809 for stunting-prone families (KRS) in 2024.

"For stunting assistance for 1,446,809 KRS from BKKBN data, stunting assistance is IDR 446,242 billion per quarter. So the total is IDR 892 billion in the first half of next year," said Airlangga.

Airlangga explained that currently the government's rice reserves managed by Bulog reached 1,442,945 tons as of November 2, 2023, with the realization of the distribution of food aid of 94.95 percent in September and 94.89 percent in October, and 18.45 percent in November 2023.

Previously, the President Director of Perum Bulog, Budi Waseso, said that the government still has a debt of IDR 2.6 trillion that has not been paid since 2020.

Meanwhile, Bulog's debt to Himbara banks is IDR 7 trillion. The debt is related to the procurement of government rice reserves (CBP).