Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Indonesia will provide additionalcash handouts for three months covering January, February and March to mitigatethe risk of rising food prices, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs AirlanggaHartarto has said.
The Indonesian government has allocated about 11.25 trillion IDR (711.8million USD) for the programme and the handouts will be given to 18.8 millionfamilies, he told a press conference on January 29. Each family will receive 200,000 IDR for each of thosemonths.
In November 2023, the government extended for six months itsrice handout scheme until June 2024, a programme that provides 10kg of ricemonthly to 22 million lower-income households to help them cope with highprices of the staple.
The government also provided a two-month cash handout formillions of households worth 400,000 IDR each for November and December 2023.
Indonesia's inflation was 2.61% at the end of 2023, withinthe central bank's target range. It has set an inflation target of 1.5-3.5% forthis year./.
