{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "id": 1703210,
        "msgid": "mbg-reduced-to-4-days-a-week-state-budget-could-save-rp50-t-per-year-1777279904",
        "date": "2026-04-27 15:20:22",
        "title": "MBG Reduced to 4 Days a Week, State Budget Could Save Rp50 T Per Year",
        "author": "",
        "source": "CNBC",
        "tags": "",
        "topic": "Social Policy",
        "summary": "The Indonesian government is adjusting its flagship Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme by reducing distribution from five to four days a week, eliminating Saturdays to enhance efficiency and avoid requiring students to attend school on holidays. This change is projected to save the state budget over Rp50 trillion annually, equivalent to roughly Rp1 trillion per day foregone. Additionally, stricter oversight and sanctions on underperforming service units will ensure programme quality amid ongoing budget refocusing efforts.",
        "content": "<p>The government will adjust the budget for the priority Free\nNutritious Meals (MBG) programme as part of its strategy to sharpen or\nrefocus spending. This adjustment is expected to save the state budget\nup to more than Rp50 trillion per year. Deputy Finance Minister Juda\nAgung explained that under the new scheme, MBG implementation,\npreviously provided five days a week, will now be reduced to four days,\nwith Saturday removed from the distribution schedule. \u201cFor MBG, for\nexample, which used to provide free lunch on Saturdays, now it\u2019s\neliminated. Makes sense, right? More logical, right?\u201d Juda said at the\nNational Policy Dialogue and Kick Off for Accelerating National\nIntermediation (PINISI) event on Monday (27\/4\/2026). He also stated that\neliminating one day considers effectiveness aspects. According to him,\nproviding meals on certain days could potentially cause inefficiency,\nespecially if students need to go to school on holidays to receive their\nMBG portion. \u201cBecause if there\u2019s food at school on one day, the children\nhave to come to school, right? Or if given on Friday, it also has to\nlast for the next day\u2019s meal,\u201d he said. From a fiscal perspective, Juda\nrevealed that reducing one day in this programme provides a significant\nsaving impact. Juda calculated that eliminating one day equates to\nsavings of around Rp1 trillion per day. \u201cOne day can save Rp1 trillion.\nFive days a week, four times a month, that can save Rp4 trillion. A\nyear, of course, can save more than Rp50 trillion,\u201d he said. Not only\nthat, as an effort to save the budget, the government will also tighten\nsupervision of the quality of programme implementation in the field.\nService Units for Nutrition Fulfilment (SPPG) that do not meet standards\nwill face strict sanctions. \u201cSPPGs that do not provide food according to\nthe required standards, so-called naughty SPPGs, will be suspended and\nevaluated. This is an example of how sharpening and refocusing continues\nto be done,\u201d he said.<\/p>",
        "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/mbg-reduced-to-4-days-a-week-state-budget-could-save-rp50-t-per-year-1777279904",
        "image": ""
    },
    "sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
    "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}