Government Accelerates Distribution Of Social Assistance, Here's The List

JAKARTA - The corona virus pandemic or COVID-19 in Indonesia is increasingly widespread. The number of positive patients also continues to grow. In the midst of the pressure of the COVID-19 outbreak, all means are done by the government. One of them is to accelerate the disbursement of the social assistance budget (bansos) for affected communities.

Rahayu Puspasari, Head of the Communication and Information Services Bureau of the Ministry of Finance, said that the acceleration of the distribution of assistance is expected to help the poor in meeting food needs and maintaining purchasing power, especially before the month of Ramadan or fasting. The budget for social assistance has started to be disbursed earlier than originally planned.

As of April 15, the government has disbursed the budget for the Family Hope Program (PKH) and the Basic Food Card. In the Family Hope Program (PKH), the budget reaches Rp. 16.4 trillion of the total ceiling of Rp. 37.4 trillion. This distribution data includes an additional target of Beneficiary Families (KPM) of 800 thousand KPM during the COVID-19 emergency.

Meanwhile, for the Basic Food Program, the nominal distribution reached Rp. 14 trillion which will cover the distribution period in May 2020. This data also includes the expansion of the KPM target during the COVID-19 emergency.

"The government is also accelerating the realization of the Smart Indonesia Program / Smart Indonesia Card (PIP / KIP) Kemendikbud's Lecture / Bidikmisi Program which has a ceiling of Rp. 15.76 trillion," he said, through a written statement received by VOI, in Jakarta, Thursday, April 16.

On April 8, said Rahayu, the Jakarta III State Treasury Service Office (KPPN) disbursed Rp12.25 billion for Junior High School PIP Aid for 16,300 students and Rp61 billion for Bidikmisi for 10,100 students.

Meanwhile, he continued, for the realization of the PIP / KIP Lecture / Bidikmisi Program of the Ministry of Religion, the government had disbursed Phase I Madrasah PIP Assistance (MI, MTs, and MA) on April 13, amounting to Rp182.28 billion through KPPN Jakarta IV which was intended for 530,591 students.

"For the Pre-Work Card Program, the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) has allocated IDR 20 trillion, with a target of 5.6 million participants," he said.

Rahayu said, registration for pre-employment card program participants has also been opened starting April 11 through the website www.prakerja.go.id, where as of April 14, there are 4.3 million registered participants.

Cash Labor Intensive

Rahayu said the government also has several cash-intensive activities in several ministries, such as the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries and the Ministry of PUPR.

"For the Ministry of Agriculture, the target is to carry out activities from April to August 2020 with a total budget of Rp1.6 billion," he explained.

According to Rahayu, one of the activities carried out by refocusing is the assistance of chickens, goats or sheep for handling the impact of the spread of COVID-19 and supporting food availability.

At the Ministry of Transportation, he continued, the total allocation amounted to Rp1.87 trillion, which was spread out for sea transportation amounting to Rp1.38 billion; Air transportation amounting to Rp226.1 billion; BPSDMP of IDR 6.1 billion; Land Transportation amounting to Rp.522.3 million, and Railways amounting to Rp1.64 trillion.

Meanwhile, said Rahayu, at the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, there is a total allocation of Rp. 95.58 billion for the management of irrigation ponds / ponds (PITAP), Minapadi, Mangrove Planting, and Pegaraman Land Integration.

"At the PUPR Ministry, there is a total of Rp.10.23 trillion earmarked for water resources of Rp.2.29 trillion, Bina Marga Rp.629.0 billion, Cipta Karya Rp.2.5 trillion and the Provision of Housing Rp.4.81 trillion," he explained.

Rahayu explained, the Ministry of Finance and Ministries / Institutions (K / L) will continue to coordinate to accelerate implementation while maintaining good governance so that it can reduce the impact of COVID-19.

"The Ministry of Finance has also made innovations in payment procedures, where submission of a Payment Order (SPM) for handling COVID-19 can be done online and disbursements can be made when the supporting data is complete," he said.