Post offices to disburse fuel subsidies<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government will distribute Rp 495.8 billion
\n(US$66 million) in fuel subsidies to poor families and public
\ntransportation owners through post offices, a senior government
\nofficial said on Monday.<\/p>\n
Acting head of the government's fuel subsidy team Muhammad
\nAbduh said poor families would receive a total of Rp 164.8
\nbillion in cash for the purchase of kerosene, while public
\ntransportation owners would be given a total of Rp 331 billion in
\nfuel subsidies for the purchase of automotive diesel oil and
\nPremium gasoline.<\/p>\n
Abduh, who is also second deputy of the National Development
\nPlanning Board (Bapenas), said the government preferred using
\npost offices to banks to distribute the fuel subsidies because
\nthe former had wider operations than the latter in the country.<\/p>\n
\"Through post offices, we expect to channel the subsidy funds
\nto the remotest areas within two weeks,\" he said in a media
\nconference, adding that the funds would be disbursed on April 1.<\/p>\n
The government plans to increase fuel prices on April 1 in an
\neffort to cut fuel subsidies in the nine month April-December
\n2000 fiscal year.<\/p>\n
It aims to protect poor families and public transportation
\npassengers from the increases by providing them with cash aid to
\nbuy fuel at the new prices.<\/p>\n
The government said it would raise the price of Premium
\ngasoline to Rp 1,150 from Rp 1,000 per liter, automotive diesel
\noil to Rp 600 from Rp 550 per liter, kerosene to Rp 350 from Rp
\n280 and bunker oil to Rp 400 from Rp 350 per liter.<\/p>\n
Abduh said that each poor family would be provided with Rp
\n10,000 in subsidies to buy a total of 135 liters of kerosene for
\nthe nine-month period of April to December this year. Each family
\nis assumed to use 15 liters of kerosene per month.<\/p>\n
He said based on the data from the social safety net program
\nthere were 17.4 million poor families in the country eligible to
\nreceive the kerosene subsidy.<\/p>\n
He said the subsidy would be sent to poor families using the
\nalready-present distribution system used by the social safety net
\nprogram.<\/p>\n
The government has been distributing social safety net funds,
\nincluding scholarships and money for food, to the poor to
\nalleviate the impact of the economic crisis.<\/p>\n
\"By using the existing distribution channel of the social
\nsafety net, the government will be able to disburse the funds
\nwithout additional costs,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, he said, the social safety net program already
\nhad a well-structured monitoring system from Bappenas down to the
\nprovinces, districts and subdistricts.<\/p>\n
\"We've done this monitoring for two years now,\" he said.<\/p>\n
According to Abduh, the Finance Ministry would first disburse
\nthe kerosene subsidy to the Central Post Office in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The Central Post Office would subsequently channel the funds
\nto regency post offices, which keep the lists of persons eligible
\nfor the subsidy.<\/p>\n
The funds and the list would then be sent to the post office
\nclosest to the homes of the targeted people.<\/p>\n
He also the government would distribute fuel subsidies to
\npublic transportation owners based on data provided by a team
\ncomprising of the Land Transportation Control Agency (DLLJAR),
\nthe Association of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) and
\nregional governments.<\/p>\n
He said the government would initially only distribute
\nsubsidies to public transportation owners to cover three months's
\nworth of gasoline.<\/p>\n
\"After three months, we shall re-evaluate the data on the
\nnumbers of public transportation vehicles in operation,\" he said.
\n(bkm)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/post-offices-to-disburse-fuel-subsidies-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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