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