Govt gears up for fuel price hike

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government will send teams to various provinces to speed up the data-collecting process on low-income people and to ensure that none of them are missing from the early registration for a subsidy program, before the government cuts the fuel subsidy.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie said on Monday the move was to ensure that the government could disburse the planned low-income assistance funds to the right people, by the time the fuel price hike took place on Oct. 1.

"We're targeting the fuel price hike (to take effect) on Oct. 1, but only after the data on the poor have been collected," Aburizal said during a press conference after a Cabinet meeting.

The team will comprise officials from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the Ministry of Social Service Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

It will be tasked with meeting local administrations in Medan, Padang, Bandar Lampung, Cilegon, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya, Denpasar and Makassar to ensure that no poor people in those densely populated areas will be missed from the social protection program.

The government has set aside Rp 4.8 trillion (US$470 million) in funds this year -- as a form of direct subsidy -- to help ease their burdens when the government starts increasing fuel prices, as a result of the fuel subsidy cut.

Under the direct subsidy scheme, poor people with an individual monthly income of less than Rp 175,000 will be entitled to receive Rp 100,000 per month. The money will be disbursed through the state-owned post offices and Bank Rakyat Indonesia.

"President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has instructed us that no poor people should be missed from the program, and that the government will do its best to assist the poor in complying with the impact of the fuel price increase," said Coordinating Minister for Social Affairs Alwi Shihab.

According to the latest data from BPS, there are about 15.5 million households, or 62 million people, living slightly above, on and below the poverty line.

Aburizal declined to elaborate on the precise increase of the fuel prices, saying that the final figures would be decided upon at a hearing between the government and the House Budget Commission on Tuesday.