JAKARTA - The 10th and 12th Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia, Jusuf Kalla (JK), considers the improvement of governance from the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) program to be appropriate to ease the burden on the budget in the midst of economic dynamics.
"MBG has been cut, that's good," said JK in a Public Seminar on Economic Policy and Crisis Management reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, June 9.
According to JK, improving the governance of the MBG program is one of the steps that the government can take to reduce the fiscal burden.
Other steps, continued JK, are reducing the budget for cooperatives, reducing fuel subsidies, and reducing the budget for defense equipment.
By reducing the burden on the budget, JK believes that the government can strengthen public confidence in the Indonesian economy, especially restoring public confidence in the rupiah.
"The economic crisis is related to the fiscal. The fiscal is money, budget, and so on. So, to overcome it (the economic crisis), then spending is reduced. Income is increased," said JK.
Therefore, he welcomed the government's efforts to ease the fiscal burden by improving the MBG governance.
"Alhamdulillah, Pak Presiden menyadari itu. Mengatakan kurangi biaya di situ (MBG). Akhirnya dikurangi," ujar JK.
Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) Nanik Sudaryati Deyang stated that the improvement of the management of the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) 2026 program began by optimizing budget efficiency.
Nanik said the MBG Program would be focused on the lagging, leading, and outermost regions (3T), as well as pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and toddlers (3B) according to President Prabowo Subianto's instructions.
Therefore, continued Nanik, BGN has issued a circular to the Nutrition Fulfillment Service Unit (SPPG) which does not serve the target of MBG 3B will be suspended. Meanwhile, for the construction of SPPG in the 3T area, BGN will carry out several alternative implementation schemes so as not to burden the state budget.
After carrying out internal consolidation of BGN, Nanik stated that his party had prepared a work plan that focused on budget efficiency without reducing the target and quality of the MBG menu. The budget set for the MBG Program in 2026 is IDR 268 trillion.
"In order to be efficient in terms of budget, what we do is first, refocusing the beneficiaries; second, a moratorium on new point kitchens; third, the renovation of kitchens that have been established and operating to meet standards to produce quality food, including improvements and training of human resources," he said.
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