Coordinating Minister Airlangga: Free Nutritious Meal Programme and Village Red-White Cooperative Unaffected by Budget Efficiency Drive

Jakarta — Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto has assured that the Free Nutritious Meal Programme (MBG) and Village Red-White Cooperative (KDMP) will not be impacted by the government’s budget efficiency policy.

The government is currently formulating a budget efficiency plan across various ministries and agencies (K/L) in an effort to maintain the State Budget deficit for Fiscal Year 2026 below 3 per cent.

However, Airlangga explained to journalists at the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs in Jakarta on Monday that the government will not cut budgets for flagship programmes.

“Flagship programme budgets will not be cut at all,” Airlangga said.

According to Airlangga, several government flagship programmes are exempt from efficiency measures because they have long-term investment potential for the national economy and public welfare.

Meanwhile, efficiency efforts will focus on expenditure items that could provide additional fiscal space. The government is currently evaluating such potential expenditure items.

To that end, Airlangga convened a Limited Coordination Meeting (Rakortas) today involving several ministries, including the Ministry of Finance.

This step represents President Prabowo Subianto’s directive to maintain the State Budget deficit below 3 per cent.

“Clearly, the President’s directive is to keep the deficit at 3 per cent. And there was a special coordination meeting earlier to follow up on yesterday’s plenary session,” he explained.

However, the government has not yet set a final figure for budget efficiency across K/L spending. That decision will be announced by Prabowo.

Similarly, Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa said he is preparing a budget efficiency plan.

The main efficiency will target the Additional Budget Cost (ABT) for each K/L. According to him, the ABT of K/L has significantly inflated budgets, making it a potential expenditure item that could be trimmed.

The Ministry of Finance will determine the initial steps that K/L can take in preparing their budget efficiency plans. These preparations are expected to take approximately one week.

The Finance Minister also stated that the K/L budget cuts will not require a Presidential Instruction (Inpres) as was the case with the spending efficiency measure in early 2025, which was regulated under Inpres 1 of 2025.