JAKARTA - The government has officially extended social assistance (bansos) to people affected by the COVID-19. However, its value is diminishing. This rule is contained in the national economic recovery program (PEN). The assistance was provided to support the people's purchasing power which had declined due to many factors.
Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the budget prepared by the government in the PEN program was IDR 178.9 trillion which includes the Family Hope Program (PKH), Basic Food Cards, Discounts and Free Electricity, Village Fund Direct Cash Assistance (BLT), Jabodetabek and non-Jabodetabek social assistance. and Pre-Employment Cards.
Sri Mulyani explained that the social assistance that has been provided in the form of basic necessities will also be extended until the end of 2020 or December for the Jabodetabek area.
"However, from July to December the benefits will drop from Rp. 600 thousand to Rp. 300 thousand per month," he said, in a virtual press conference, Wednesday, June 3.
Furthermore, Sri said, 9 million recipients of aid from non-Jabodetabek areas would also be extended until December. However, in the July-December period, the value of benefits also decreased from IDR 600 thousand to IDR 300 thousand per month.
"The President also decided that the distribution of social assistance will be carried out in cash and non-cash. There will be transfers to the name of their account funds in accordance with the data at the Ministry of Social Affairs or in cooperation with the local government," he explained.
Meanwhile, Sri Mulyani revealed, the current Village Fund BLT will also be extended until September 2020. However, in the July-September period the value of the benefits will be reduced from IDR 600 thousand to IDR 300 thousand.
As for the details of the aid budget, namely, the total BLT Village Fund will reach IDR 31.8 trillion, while for non-Jabodetabek cash assistance the total will be IDR 32.4 trillion, and Jabodetabek social assistance a total of IDR 6.8 trillion.
"From the data obtained from the integrated data, the majority of social assistance recipients are farmers, breeders and planters as many as 18.4 million. Then traders and private sector workers are 4.2 million, construction workers 3.4 million, factory workers 3.3 million. , 1.3 million drivers and communication workers, nearly 900 thousand fishermen, and other sectors, "he said.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
