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)