Illustration of rupiah during the coronavirus pandemic.(Photo: https://www.thejakartapost.com/) Jakarta (VNA) – The Indonesian government has disbursed 304.6trillion Rp (20.5 billion USD), or 43.8 percent of the 695 trillion Rp nationaleconomic recovery (PEN) budget, with social safety net spending acceleratingbut healthcare spending still lagging.
PEN committee head Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the government had spent 150.8 trillion Rp, or 74percent of the social safety net budget, in the hope of softeningthe demand shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and helping people stayafloat amid the economic downturn.
For health care, the government has spent 21.79 trillion Rp, or around 25 percentof the allocation in the COVID-19 relief package, mainly on incentives formedical workers, death compensation, COVID-19 handling in hospitals andhealthcare facilities, as well as the National Health Insurance (JKN) and taxincentives in the healthcare sector.
According to Indonesian Deputy FinanceMinister Suahasil Nazara, thegovernment is still prioritising the disbursement of COVID-19 relief package, while a funding for the COVID-19 vaccine isavailable.
Indonesian economists saidthat the coronavirus relief package disbursement was relatively low despite itsbig impact, adding that it should have reached around 70 percent by September.
The government’s fear of mistargeting therelief package and thus getting criminalised or politicised was the biggerobstacle in getting the assistance to the people, they noted./.
VNA
