Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia’s government has decided to expand its social assistance programme with a total budget of 6.5 trillion IDR (390 million USD), which includes doubling the amount of cooking oil distributed to beneficiaries starting in October.
Accordingly, households eligible for support will be provided with 2 litres of cooking oil per month in October and November, instead of 1 litre previously. Each household will also continue to receive 10kg of rice per month.
Indonesian House of Representatives’ Budget Committee Chairman Said Abdullah said the adjustment is aimed at boosting people’s purchasing power in the context of fluctuating food prices. He added that an earlier proposal to provide five litres of oil per household was scrapped due to concerns it would deviate from the programme’s original purpose.
The decision was made after a meeting between Indonesian Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa and House leaders, before being approved at the plenary session on the 2026 State Budget.
Arief Prasetyo Adi, head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas), said the additional expenditure includes 5.3 trillion IDR for rice and 1.1 trillion IDR for cooking oil. The oil distribution will be conducted in a single round, totaling four litres per household over two months.
The Indonesian government hopes that the expanded support package will help ease household burdens amid fluctuating food prices toward year-end. According to the National Statistics Agency of Indonesia (BPS), rice and cooking oil are items that directly affect the poverty rate, with rice accounting for more than 21% of the poverty line in urban areas and nearly 25% in rural areas./.
