President Jokowi Calls for Double PKH Fund in 2019
Cabinet Secretary and Finance Minister attend a Plenary Cabinet meeting at the State Palace on Monday (5/3). (Photo by: Jay/Public Relations Division).
President Joko Jokowi Widodo has ordered his Cabinet members to finalize the budget for the Family Hope Program (PKH) this year, especially for the 10 million participants of the program before the end of March.
“Next year, I want the funds given to PKH recipients be doubled,” the President said at a Plenary Cabinet Meeting at the State Palace, Monday (5/3).
Based on the data from the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), budget allocated for the PKH program accounts for 16 percent of total Governments expenditures and the President wants to raise it into 20 percent.
“Please, count it once again so we can immediately address matters related to underprivileged families,” the President said, adding that based on Bappenas calculation, the current PKH budget is Rp50 trillion and it only needs an additional Rp20 trillion to reduce the number of underprivileged families below 9 percent.
In the meantime, President Jokowi noted that the implementation of the 2018 State Budget and the formulation of the 2019 State Budget should seriously anticipate the changing dynamics of global economy, be it commodity prices, global interest rate, exchange rate or capital flows.
“(Those factors) can affect the economy and our competitiveness. Therefore, it must be really anticipated,” the President firmly said.
The Government, President Jokowi continued, must also anticipate several changes in the near future including trade protection policies imposed by several export destination countries that requires Indonesia to strengthen competitiveness of its exports and to seek alternative markets, non-traditional markets.
“We have to seek alternative markets for non-traditional market exports so our exports are expanding,” the President asserted.
President Jokowi also reminded his Cabinet that in the implementation of the 2018 State Budget and the formulation of the 2019 State Budget, programs for the poor such as PKH, rice social assistance (rastra), cash for work, Village Funds, must be carried out on time, well-targeted and the quality must be maintained as well.
Moreover, the President pushed for innovations in the State Budget and called for involvement of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and the business world in a bid to reduce dependence on the State Budget through increased investment and exports, which in turn, can increase employment.
President Jokowi also hopes that the online single submission system for business licenses can be finalized at the end of this month in order to stimulate economic growth. “The key is consolidation and coordination among related ministries and institutions,” the President concluded. (FID/SM/JAY/ES) (MUR/EP/YM/Naster).
