The Government Asked To Keep An Eye On The Traffic In The Distribution Of BBM Social Assistance

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Economic researcher in The Indonesian Institute, Nuri Resti Chayyani, asked the government to closely monitor the distribution of social assistance (bansos) compensation for the increase in fuel oil prices (BBM).

"The government needs to prioritize data accuracy and strict supervision during the distribution of social assistance," said Nuri, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, September 7.

The government transferred the allocation of APBN funds for subsidies and energy compensation of Rp. 24.17 trillion to social assistance to support the community amid the surge in commodity prices due to the increase in fuel prices.

Nuri said the step to increase fuel prices was not appropriate because it was still accompanied by conditions for national economic recovery due to the pandemic as well as the large number of national strategic projects (PSN) being implemented.

However, Nuri said, the increase in the price of subsidized and non-subsidized fuel is something that inevitably has to be done even though in the end it creates public assumptions such as increasing fuel prices used for IKN development.

Therefore, he emphasized, supervision must be carried out because inaccuracy of steps can trigger an increase in inflation of up to 2 percent of the target, so that the collaboration of all stakeholders needs to be tightened.

Good supervision will also further optimize people's purchasing power, control inflation, as well as create positive economic growth.

According to him, the Ministry of Social Affairs together with the Ministry of Manpower and the Ministry of Transportation must work together to improve public communication.

The government needs to promote informative and educational public communication with both the media and stakeholders so that they do not become protracted polemics.

Nuri added that the disclosure of information and communication caused the public to know the development of the IKN project to the comparison of the same type of fuel price as other countries.

This can be used by the government to prioritize information on policies regarding the socialization of economic assistance in the form of Direct Cash Assistance (BLT), worker wage subsidy assistance and assistance from local governments for transportation.