Govt, WB seek to improve social safety net program

Govt, WB seek to improve social safety net program

JAKARTA (JP): The government and the World Bank are
discussing ways to improve the effectiveness of the social safety
net program in an effort to maintain international financial
support and prevent possible abuse of the program ahead of the
elections.

Chairman of the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas)
Boediono said on Tuesday new mechanisms introduced to the program
would include an independent monitoring agency, the use of a 1999
database to improve the targeting of the program and better
efforts to promote the program.

"It is the determination of Bappenas to prevent the use of
social safety net funds for political purposes. The program is
meant for poor people. If there are problems (with the
implementation of the program) please let us know," he said at a
joint media briefing with the World Bank and the Asian
Development Bank.

Boediono said the government was considering disbursing some
Rp 6 trillion (US$689 million) in social safety net funds,
expected to come mostly from international donors, in the
1999/2000 fiscal year ending in March.

He was optimistic the international community would continue
to support the program despite increasing allegations that funds
from the program were mismanaged and abused by the ruling Golkar
Party to gain popularity ahead of the June 7 general election.

"The international support is still strong. But it is support
for the country, not the (current) government, to help it out of
the crisis," Boediono said.

Ben Fisher, a World Bank program coordinator in Jakarta, said
the bank was committed to providing some $600 million to finance
the social safety net program in the current fiscal year.

He said the first $300 million tranche of the funding would be
released once the bank and the government reached an agreement on
the new mechanisms for the program and if the bank's board of
directors gave their approval at a meeting scheduled for May 18
in Washington, D.C.

He added that the second tranche would be released after the
Indonesian government provided a report on the impact of the
social safety net program.

The $600 million was initially scheduled to be released before
the 1998/1999 fiscal year ended in March, but was delayed because
the government failed to provide a reliable system to monitor the
disbursement of the money.

Opposition parties and non-governmental organizations have
alleged that the government is using the funds from the World
Bank to garner voter support ahead of the elections.

"We're very concerned about the quality of the social safety
net program, but we're not concerned about the general election"
Fisher said.

A renewed attack on the social safety net program, which is
designed to help the poor survive the current economic crisis,
emerged last week following media reports that some Rp 8 trillion
of the program's Rp 17.9 trillion budget in the 1998/1999 fiscal
year failed to reach its intended targets, namely laid-off
workers and people facing food shortages.

The reports said only about Rp 9 trillion of the total funds
were used to provide inexpensive food, medicine and education.

But Boediono called the reports a gross misunderstanding on
the part of the media.

He said the 1998/1999 social safety net program consisted of
core programs (Rp 9.3 trillion) and noncore program (Rp 8.6
trillion). The disputed Rp 8 trillion was earmarked to finance
the noncore programs, including road improvement and irrigation
system maintenance. These programs traditionally were handled by
various ministries but were reoriented to help the poor during
the economic crisis.

"So instead of allocating the budget for technology-intensive
work using machinery, it was spent mostly on labor-intensive
projects," Boediono said.

He said there was "nothing wrong with the noncore programs"
despite increasing reports of the misallocation of funds by
officials, including Golkar politicians.

But Boediono said the social safety net program in the current
fiscal year would only include core programs.

Boediono said only some 76 percent of the Rp 9.3 trillion
budget for core programs in the last fiscal year had been used,
and the remaining funds would be carried over into the Rp 6
trillion allocated for the current fiscal year. (rei)