Labour Minister Assures Budget Efficiency Will Not Affect National Internship Programme
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Minister of Manpower Yassierli has assured that the third phase of budget efficiency by the Ministry of Finance will not affect strategic programmes such as the National Internship this year. “It’s different (budget allocation). So the third efficiency carried out by the Ministry of Finance relates to official travel, meetings, and so on. It’s a different allocation from the (National) Internship (programme),” said the Minister when met in Jakarta on Friday. Yassierli, during a working meeting with Commission IX of the House of Representatives on Thursday (9/4), revealed that the Ministry of Manpower received a letter from the Minister of Finance S-181/MK.03/2026 dated 1 April 2026, regarding budget efficiency. The letter states that the Ministry of Manpower’s budget sourced from pure rupiah (RM) will undergo efficiency or reallocation to the State Treasurer General’s Budget Section (BA BUN) of the Ministry of Finance amounting to Rp181,826,183,000. This amount consists of Special Output Details (RO) of Rp122,163,948,000 and the results of budget efficiency identification by the Ministry of Finance of Rp59,662,235,000. “So for the (National) Internship (programme), it is currently at the approval stage from the Ministry of Finance, the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, and certainly from the President,” he said. Previously, the Ministry of Manpower proposed an increase in the 2026 National Internship participant quota to 150,000 people, following last year’s 100,000 participants. Yassierli stated that they are considering the quota increase for the National Internship due to high public interest, especially from fresh graduates, when the programme was launched last year. Currently, the National Internship programme is followed by around 100,000 participants spread across various companies, ministries, and agencies. Its implementation is carried out in stages. For phase I, 14,952 participants are scheduled to complete their internship period on 19 April 2026.