Coordinating Minister Airlangga Ensures Free Lunch And Milk Program Enters The 2025 State Budget

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto. (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto said the free lunch program would be included in the discussion of Macroeconomic Policy and the Principles of Fiscal Policy (KEM-PPKF) 2025.

"Entering (free lunch program in the 2025 State Budget)," Airlangga replied when asked by reporters at the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy office, Friday, February 23, 2024.

For information, free lunch will be Prabowo's first program to be executed after being officially inaugurated as President of the Republic of Indonesia Prabowo-Gibran.

Giving free lunch and milk will target schools and Islamic boarding schools, as well as nutrition assistance for toddlers and pregnant women.

The program will take place in stages by targeting more than 80 million beneficiaries with 100 percent coverage by 2029 and is estimated to require a budget of IDR 400 trillion.

However, Airlangga did not mention how much the budget would be listed in the 2025 State Budget.

In addition, he emphasized, the KEM-PPKF 2025 itself will be discussed on Monday, February 26, 2024, at the President Joko Widodo Cabinet Meeting.

"PPKF is being discussed, on Monday there will be a cabinet meeting. So just wait for Monday," said Airlangga.

Previously, Airlangga in his personal Instagram upload, that he had discussed the preparations for the 2025 State Budget with the Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati on Wednesday, February 21, 2024.

In addition to discussing the Macroeconomic Framework and the Principles of Fiscal Policy (KEM-PPKF), Airlangga and Sri Mulyani also discussed the latest global and national economic conditions.