{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "id": 1695517,
        "msgid": "mbg-and-poverty-1777049507",
        "date": "2026-04-23 12:00:00",
        "title": "MBG and Poverty",
        "author": "Lida Puspaningtyas",
        "source": "REPUBLIKA",
        "tags": "",
        "topic": "Social Policy",
        "summary": "The Indonesian government claims that President Prabowo's flagship MBG (Free Nutritious Meals) programme has positively impacted the economy and reduced poverty rates, with official figures showing a decline from 8.57% in September 2024 to 8.25% in September 2025. Theoretically, MBG could lower poverty through reduced household food expenditures, job creation in local agriculture, and long-term benefits like improved education and nutrition to break the poverty cycle. However, critics argue its universal design leads to high targeting inefficiencies, concentrating benefits in urban areas like Java where child nutrition issues are less prevalent, thus limiting its effectiveness against poverty.",
        "content": "<p>The government is convinced that President Prabowo\u2019s flagship\nprogramme, MBG (Free Nutritious Meals), has had a positive impact on the\neconomy and has been able to reduce poverty. In the Indonesia Economic\nOutlook 2026, President Prabowo stated that he had received reports from\nmany regional heads that MBG has successfully lowered poverty rates and\ninequality in many areas. For example, the Governor of DKI Jakarta\nclaims that MBG has reduced stunting and poverty rates in Jakarta. Since\nit was rolled out in January 2025, MBG is now claimed to have benefited\n60 million people served by 22,000 kitchen partners (SPPG) that have\nabsorbed up to 925,000 workers. The claim of MBG\u2019s positive impact on\npoverty in general aligns with the trend of declining poverty rates over\nthe past year. In September 2024, before MBG was rolled out, the poverty\nrate was recorded at 8.57 per cent or 24.06 million people. In March\n2025, three months after MBG, the poverty rate fell to 8.47 per cent or\n23.85 million people. And finally, in September 2025, nine months after\nMBG, the poverty rate fell again to 8.25 per cent or 23.36 million\npeople. However, is the decline in the poverty rate truly due to the\nadoption of MBG? Theoretically, the direct impact of the MBG programme\non poverty would occur through the channels of reducing poor households\u2019\nfood expenditures and strengthening the people\u2019s economy through the\nutilisation of local food ingredients, expanding job opportunities for\nfarmers, boosting the rural economy, and strengthening food security.\nMeanwhile, the indirect impact of MBG on poverty would occur through\nincreased school participation rates and reduced malnutrition, including\nstunting, among children from poor families, thereby breaking the chain\nof poverty in the long term. Overall, through the adoption of the MBG\nprogramme, it is hoped that there will be a significant improvement in\neducation quality as well as the creation of a massive supply chain for\ninclusive economic growth. However, we see that the impact of MBG on\npoverty alleviation will be limited, at least for two main reasons.\nFirst, MBG is designed as a universal programme, making it ineffective\nas an instrument for poverty alleviation due to very high targeting\ninaccuracy. With a design as a universal programme, targeted at all\ntoddlers and school-age children, the beneficiaries of MBG become highly\nconcentrated in densely populated areas, especially urban areas in Java,\nwhich generally do not have problems with child nutrition.<\/p>",
        "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/mbg-and-poverty-1777049507",
        "image": ""
    },
    "sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
    "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}