Over 16 Million Beneficiaries Receive Fuel Cash Assistance in Indonesia

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia’s Ministry of Social Affairs has disbursed the fuel cash assistance to as many as 16,243,960 beneficiary families as of Saturday, Sept. 17.

According to data from the ministry received on Sunday, Sept. 18, the Ministry of Social Affairs, through state-owned postal company PT Pos Indonesia, has conducted the aid disbursement to beneficiaries in 494 cities and districts.

The ministry has targeted to distribute the cash assistance to 20,650,000 beneficiary families and has submitted the data to PT Pos Indonesia.

Fuel cash assistance is one of the government’s social assistance packages after diverting fuel subsidies.

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The government provided a total budget of 12.4 trillion rupiahs to provide fuel cash assistance for 20.65 million beneficiary families. Each beneficiary family receives 150,000 rupiahs ($10) per month for four months, and the disbursement is conducted in two phases, so each beneficiary family receives 300,000 rupiahs ($20) in September and December, respectively.

The government is targeting to disburse the fuel cash assistance to at least 18,585,000 beneficiary families or 90 percent of the target, by the end of this week.

The target was conveyed by Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini at a press conference with President Joko Widodo and Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Friday.

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The minister also said that the government had increased the allocation for social assistance that will be disbursed to orphans, single elderly, and people with disabilities in December 2022.

“We received an additional budget from the Ministry of Finance of around 400 billion rupiahs [$26.6 million] to be used in Dec. 2022. We will give assistance to the targeted 946,863 orphans. Each child will receive 200,000 rupiahs [$13] per month,” she said.

In addition to orphans, the government is also preparing assistance for 334,011 single elderly people aged over 80 and 98,934 people with disabilities, she added.

Source: State News Antara