Free meal pause during Eid holiday saves trillions of rupiah

“The MBG chief (Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), Dadan Hindayana) has reported it, right? He said the program would be paused during the holiday. It saves quite a few trillion,” Sadewa said when met at the State Palace here on Thursday.

“During the holiday, MBG will not be distributed, and that will result in significant savings. It will resume as usual afterward,” he added.

The minister was referring to a statement by BGN Head Dadan Hindayana, who said the MBG program would be paused during Eid al-Fitr and could save around Rp5 trillion or around US$294.5 million.

In a statement on Tuesday (March 17), Hindayana said distribution of MBG to schools had been halted since March 13, 2026, while the last deliveries for pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and toddlers were carried out on March 17, 2026.

He noted that the MBG program would resume distribution to beneficiaries starting March 31, 2026. “It is roughly around Rp5 trillion in savings,” he said.

He also explained that on March 18-24, no MBG distribution would be carried out for both students and non-students.

Meanwhile, the finance minister also said on Monday (March 16) that there is still room for budget efficiency in the MBG program, which has been allocated Rp335 trillion or around US$19.7 billion in budget ceiling.

He said MBG is a good program as it benefits many people, especially lower-income groups. However, he noted that its implementation could still be further optimized.

“MBG will be made more efficient, especially in terms of spending. I think it is a good program because not everyone is well-off. It just needs optimization in implementation,” he said.

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Translator: Prisca, Kenzu