BGN Affirms Free Nutritious Meal Programme Budget Does Not Disrupt Ministry Allocations
The National Nutrition Agency (BGN) has clarified public concerns regarding the budgetary allocation for the Free Nutritious Meal Programme (MBG), which has been claimed to potentially disrupt the budgets of other ministries. BGN head Dadan Hindayana explained that for pregnant women, nursing mothers, and young children, the budgetary allocation falls within the health function output allocation.
For 2026, there is a budget of Rp24 trillion registered under the health function by BGN. However, he assured that this budget does not disrupt the budgetary ceiling of the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes).
“There is a BGN budget of Rp24 trillion allocated within the health function, but it does not disrupt the Ministry of Health budget. This is evidenced by the Ministry of Health budget increasing year-on-year, despite the Rp24 trillion allocated for 2026 under the health function managed by the National Nutrition Agency,” he stated at a press conference in Bogor on Saturday, 28 February 2026.
Similarly, this applies to education allocations. BGN assured that it does not reduce the budget allocation of the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen) or the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (Kemendiktisaintek).
“For the school-age children category, including Islamic boarding school pupils and other religious education institutions, this falls within the education function output allocation. Thus there is a Rp223 trillion education budget, but it does not disrupt the Primary and Secondary Education Ministry budget because it continues to increase year-on-year. It does not disrupt the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology budget because it has also increased from last year to this year,” Dadan continued.
Additionally, Dadan also assured that central-to-regional transfers for teacher allowances continue to increase, having risen by nearly 10 per cent compared to the previous year.
“Central-to-regional transfers for teacher allowances also remain unaffected because they have increased by 10 per cent from last year to this year,” he stated.