Aid too slow in reaching the poor

JAKARTA (JP): The government will meet with the House of Representatives (DPR) soon to report over the slow realization of a multibillion-dollar social safety net program designed to help the poor in surviving the economic crisis, said the National Development Planning Board chairman Budiono.

He said on Friday that Finance Minister Bambang Subianto would represent the government at the meeting.

In its latest letter of intent to the IMF, the government said that the realization of the social safety net program during the first half of the current fiscal year was slower than expected, primarily due to worries over leaks and corruption.

"Progress was especially slow in implementing new initiatives in health, education and employment generation," it said.

The government, however, said that the development expenditure would be accelerated sharply during the second half of the fiscal year, which ends in March 1999.

The government vowed that it would strengthen the monitoring of the development spending by inviting university and non- governmental organizations into the process.

The social safety net program in the current budget amounts to 7.5 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. Most of the US$14 billion loan pledged by international donors this fiscal year are used to support the program.

The World Bank has repeatedly said that preventing program from being abused was a precondition for future international support to the country.

Budiono declined to disclose the amount of money disbursed so far in helping the poor but a government official said that the realization was only 20 percent. (rei)