Member Of Commission VII DPR: Requires Latest Poverty Data To Determine The Amount Of LPG Gas Subsidy

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Member of Commission VII DPR RI Diah Nurwitasari assesses the need for adjustments to actual and verified poverty data, in order to determine the appropriate budget size for subsidized LPG. According to him, currently there has been an economic shift, especially for the middle class before the pandemic, to become vulnerable to poverty during the pandemic.

"The impact makes people switch to using subsidized LPG. They can't afford to consume non-subsidized LPG anymore due to price increases. This needs to be considered in detail by the government," Diah said in a statement to the media, Thursday, April 14.

He added that the shift in the economic level was due to those who worked in the formal sector were affected by layoffs (PHK) or the informal sector suffered losses due to the lack of business profits.

"Therefore I also encourage the government to accelerate the development of the implementation of the gas network throughout Indonesia. The potential of Indonesia's natural gas is very large, so it needs to be supported by progressive policies," he concluded.

It is known, President Director of PT Pertamina (Persero) Nicke Widyawati revealed, the amount of subsidies for 3 kg LPG cylinders reached Rp. 33,750. Nicke explained that 93 percent of the LPG sold by Pertamina is subsidized.

He said the subsidy per kg for LPG was Rp. 11,250 or Rp. 33,750 per cylinder from the price received by consumers of Rp. 20,000 per cylinder.