Indonesia cuts outlay on giant free meal plan
JAKARTA: Indonesia has trimmed spending plans for what could still be the world's second-most expensive free meal programme, offering modest relief from fiscal pressures as President Prabowo Subianto advances a host of big-ticket projects.
Planned spending on the programme, which targets reaching 83 million people in the coming months, is now forecast at 350 trillion rupiah next year after officials revised ingredient cost estimates lower by a third, said Dadan Hindayana, head of the newly created National Nutrition Agency.
That marked a 22% drop from spending plans earlier this year.
This year's expenditures are expected to total about US$7.5bil, Hindayana said in a recent interview.
That represented a 29% reduction from prior plans. The recalibration of the five-days-a-week programme, aimed at improving health outcomes for students, children under five, and pregnant or breastfeeding women in the world's fourth-most populous nation, could ease some investor concerns about Indonesia's budget deficit outlook. — Bloomberg
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