Gov’t Disburses Cash Assistance to Villages

Photo by: Ministry of Villages, Development of Underdeveloped Regions and Transmigration.

As of 20 July 2020, the Government has disbursed Rp10.83 trillion Cash Transfer Assistance (BLT) sourced from village fund to families affected by COVID-19 pandemic.

Minister of Villages, Development of Underdeveloped Regions and Transmigration Abdul Halim Iskandar delivered the statement during a virtual press conference in Jakarta, Tuesday (21/7).

The Minister said that 81 percent of the beneficiary families are low-income families who previously never receive the Government’s assistance.

“It means that the cash transfer is a good policy, because the reality of the situation shows that the majority of the recipients are the people who are supposed to receive Social Safety Net Program but are not registered,” Abdul Halim said.

The village fund cash transfer is disbursed in two stages. The first stage cash transfer is disbursed in April (the 1^st Phase), May (the 2^nd Phase), and June (the 3^rd Phase), with the amount of Rp600,000 per family per month. The second stage cash transfer is disbursed in July (the 4^th Phase), August (the 5^th Phase), and September (the 6^th Phase), with the amount of Rp300,000 per family per month.

The Minister went on to say that in the 1^st Phase, Rp4.69 trillion cash transfer has been disbursed to 7,426,707 families in 74,877 villages while in the 2^nd Phase, Rp4.05 trillion cash transfer has been disbursed to 6,757,859 families in 64,515 villages.

He also said that in the 3^rd phase, Rp2,07 trillion cash transfer has been disbursed to 3,453,286 families in 35,857 villages, while in the 4^th phase, 17.55 billion cash transfer has been disbursed to 58,494 families in 645 villages.

The Minister also said that there are several villages that have not disbursed the cash transfer yet due to several obstacles, including 52 villages that are still waiting for status verification process by the Ministry of Home Affairs, as well as 3 regencies in Papua and 1 regency in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) that have geographical barriers.

The Minister further said that there are also some villages that did not disburse the cash transfer because none of the residents are included in cash transfer recipient criteria. On the other hand, there are also villages that did not disburse the cash transfer because the wealthy people support the needy in the villages. (Public Relations of Ministry of Villages, Development of Underdeveloped Regions and Transmigration/EN)

Translated by: Ridwan Ibadurrohman
Reviewed by: Yuyu Mulyani