MBG Reduced to 4 Days a Week, State Budget Could Save Rp50 T Per Year

The government will adjust the budget for the priority Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme as part of its strategy to sharpen or refocus spending. This adjustment is expected to save the state budget up to more than Rp50 trillion per year. Deputy Finance Minister Juda Agung explained that under the new scheme, MBG implementation, previously provided five days a week, will now be reduced to four days, with Saturday removed from the distribution schedule. “For MBG, for example, which used to provide free lunch on Saturdays, now it’s eliminated. Makes sense, right? More logical, right?” Juda said at the National Policy Dialogue and Kick Off for Accelerating National Intermediation (PINISI) event on Monday (27/4/2026). He also stated that eliminating one day considers effectiveness aspects. According to him, providing meals on certain days could potentially cause inefficiency, especially if students need to go to school on holidays to receive their MBG portion. “Because if there’s food at school on one day, the children have to come to school, right? Or if given on Friday, it also has to last for the next day’s meal,” he said. From a fiscal perspective, Juda revealed that reducing one day in this programme provides a significant saving impact. Juda calculated that eliminating one day equates to savings of around Rp1 trillion per day. “One day can save Rp1 trillion. Five days a week, four times a month, that can save Rp4 trillion. A year, of course, can save more than Rp50 trillion,” he said. Not only that, as an effort to save the budget, the government will also tighten supervision of the quality of programme implementation in the field. Service Units for Nutrition Fulfilment (SPPG) that do not meet standards will face strict sanctions. “SPPGs that do not provide food according to the required standards, so-called naughty SPPGs, will be suspended and evaluated. This is an example of how sharpening and refocusing continues to be done,” he said.