The Ministry of Social Affairs has disbursed the fuel cash assistance to as many as 16,243,960 beneficiary families as of Saturday night.
According to data from the ministry received here on Sunday, 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.
The government readied a total budget of Rp12.4 trillion to provide fuel cash assistance for 20.65 million beneficiary families. Each beneficiary family receives Rp150 thousand per month for a period of four months, and the disbursement is conducted in two phases, so each beneficiary family receives Rp300 thousand in September and another Rp300 thousand in December.
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 here on Friday.
On that occasion, the minister also informed 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 Rp400 billion to be used in December (2022). We will give the assistance to the targeted 946,863 orphans. Each child will receive Rp200 thousand per month,” she informed.
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: Antara News