JAKARTA: To cut or not to cut – Indonesia’s president-elect Prabowo Subianto’s proposed free meal initiative has come under spotlight again over funding issues.
An economist involved in the programme has claimed that its budget would be slashed, potentially halving the original allocation of 15,000 rupiah (US$0.93) per child for five days a week to 7,500 rupiah.
However, Mr Prabowo’s deputy and incoming vice-president Gibran Rakabuming Raka has pushed back against the claims.
The Free Nutritious Meal programme, previously known as the Free Lunch programme before its rebranding in May, aims to address child malnutrition.
The change in budget was first revealed by Mr Heriyanto Irawan, an economist and managing partner at Verdhana Sekuritas, a securities firm based in Jakarta.
Speaking at the Market Outlook 2024 event on Tuesday (Jul 16), Mr Heriyanto explained that reducing the meal budget would keep the programme within its budget ceiling of 71 trillion rupiah (US$4.4 billion) while maintaining the government’s annual budget deficit, capped at 2.5 per cent.
He emphasised that Mr Prabowo does not intend to raise the current 3 per cent budget deficit cap to fund his ambitious programme, despite concerns raised by some analysts.
Mr Heriyanto was asked by Mr Prabowo’s synchronisation team to discuss the free lunch programme.
The team, formed to align the policies of President Joko Widodo’s outgoing administration and Mr Prabowo’s incoming administration, comprises top officials from Mr Prabowo’s Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra). They include his nephews, Mr Thomas Djiwandono and Mr Budisatrio Djiwandono.
Mr Widodo is set to appoint Mr Thomas as the new deputy minister of finance, effective Thursday, according to Reuters.
Mr Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, another member of the synchronisation team, confirmed that Mr Thomas will continue in the role after Mr Prabowo takes office on Oct 20.
On Thursday (Jul 18), however, vice president-elect Gibran denied that the free lunch budget would be slashed, reiterating that the budget allocation will remain at 15,000 rupiah per child.
“Who said it would be cut? The budget remains 15,000 rupiah; there is no plan to cut it,” Mr Gibran said at the Solo City Hall, as quoted by media outlet Kumparan.
He even announced that a free meals trial would begin in late July at schools in Solo, the Central Javan city that he is mayor of.