Bisnis.com, JAKARTA – Executive Director of the Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios) Bhima Yudhistira assessed the plans Prabowo Subiantopresidential candidate (capres) 2024-2029, in cutting fuel subsidies for have lunch free is not right.
Ideally, according to Bhima, energy subsidies would be cut to encourage people to switch to cleaner energy at affordable prices and increase the public transportation fleet.
“So if the budget is cut energy subsidies “For free lunch, that’s not right,” he said, Friday (16/2/2024).
Bhima is worried that cutting energy subsidies will actually trigger a spike inflation especially the increase in food prices.
On the other hand, this decision will have a direct impact on increasing poverty rates and pressure on the purchasing power of people who still need energy subsidies.
For this reason, Bhima is of the view that Prabowo needs to be careful in making policies that concern the lives of many people. Better yet, this policy needs to be studied more deeply.
Even though it is considered not on target, Bhima believes that at least this subsidy is able to encourage spending from the middle class who often do not receive government attention.
“Even if energy subsidies are currently enjoyed by the middle class, for example, this also has implications for pressure on transportation spending for the middle class,” continued Bhima.
A classic problem related to inappropriate fuel subsidies, Bhima asked the government to be more firm in monitoring, especially regarding leaks in the use of diesel.
It is often found that diesel is actually enjoyed by industry, mining, and even large-scale businesses, not lower class people.
“It’s not then diverted to free lunches, it’s not connected to energy and transportation, it’s not connected to what Prabowo’s team is offering,” he explained.
In a joint interview Bloomberg TelevisionThursday (15/2/2024), Deputy Chair of the Prabowo-Gibran National Campaign Team (TKN), Eddy Soeparno, revealed that the plan to realize the free lunch program worth IDR 400 trillion will come from two funding sources.
First, from tax extensification. Second, through inappropriate cuts to the subsidy budget, namely energy subsidies.
“We will finance this program [makan siang gratis] by cutting unnecessary subsidies,” he said.
In Prabowo-Gibran’s Vision, Mission and Program document, there are 8 Fast Best Results Programs which will be supervised directly by the President and Vice President in the next 5 years. Free lunch is the very first program.
Prabowo and Gibran will provide free lunches and milk for preschool to high school students, including Islamic boarding schools, as well as nutritional assistance for children under five and pregnant women.
According to him, this policy can reduce stunting, which is a concrete and urgent problem that must be addressed directly and en masse by the government to ensure the achievement of good human resource quality and quality of life.
For the record, this program will take place in stages and targets more than 80 million beneficiaries with 100% coverage by 2029.
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