Hajj Costs Drop Negotiated Results In Saudi, Ministry Of Religion: Capai Efficiency Of IDR 600 Billion

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Religion (Kemenag) stated that it has succeeded in doing a lot of efficiency because the results of the negotiation process with service providers in Saudi Arabia have made the cost of Hajj suppressed or decreased from the previous year.

The Director General of Hajj and Umrah at the Ministry of Religion, Hilman Latief, said that this efficiency was successfully carried out on various components, both accommodation (hotels), consumption, and service costs at Arafah-Muzdalifah-Mina (Armuzna).

"Efficiency can also be carried out on the operational components of domestic and foreign public services. This total efficiency reaches Rp600 billion," said Hilman in Jakarta, Tuesday, January 7, quoted by Antara.

Previously, the Government and the DPR had agreed on the 1446 H/2025 M Hajj Implementation Fee (BPIH) with an average of Rp. 89,410,258.79 assuming a USD 1 exchange rate of Rp. 16,000 and 1 SAR of Rp. 4,266.67.

This year's BPIH average decreased by Rp. 4,000,027.21 compared to the 2024 BPIH average which reached Rp. 93,410,286.00.

The decline in BPIH has an impact on the decrease in the cost of Hajj (Bipih) that must be paid by pilgrims. The average 2024 pilgrims pay Bipih of IDR 56,046,171.60. Meanwhile, the average for 2025 pilgrims will pay Bipih of IDR 55,431,750.78.

The use of Benefit Values allocated from the results of optimizing the initial deposit of pilgrims has also decreased. The average value of benefits per person in 2024 is IDR 37,364,114.40. This year, the use of the value of benefits decreases on average per person by IDR 33,978,508.01.

In addition, the decrease in the cost of Hajj this year is due to the purchase of a number of tools for congregational needs that have been focused on 2024. So this year there is no need to buy more.

"We are optimizing existing tools, such as travel document reading machines, visa bio data collection equipment, and others. Thank God, this can reduce the cost of Hajj," said Hilman.

Not only that, the Ministry of Religion's initial proposal was discussed again based on the realization of the 2024 hajj implementation budget.

"So this year's proposed Hajj fee is closer to the realization of the 2024 hajj. We will optimize this later in the negotiation process for providing services this year," he said.

Indonesia this year received 221,000 hajj quotas. This number consists of 201,063 regular pilgrims, 1,572 regional Hajj officers, 685 are guides to the Hajj and Umrah Guidance Group (KBIHU), and 17,680 special Hajj pilgrims.