PKH and BPNT Social Assistance Amounts Need Not Be Raised Yet

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos) has stated that the value of social assistance (bansos) under the Family Hope Programme (PKH) and Non-Cash Food Assistance (BPNT), also known as the staple food programme, does not yet need to be raised despite fluctuations in the market prices of essential goods.

Minister of Social Affairs Saifullah Yusuf said in Jakarta on Monday that the decision was taken considering that the assistance received by beneficiary households is not sourced solely from the Ministry of Social Affairs.

“So far we do not yet feel the need to increase the value, because once again, the assistance does not come only from us,” he said.

The BPNT programme is currently allocated at Rp200,000 per month per Beneficiary Family (KPM), or disbursed at Rp600,000 per quarter. For PKH, the assistance amount is adjusted based on family components per stage (quarter): pregnant or postpartum mothers receive Rp750,000 per stage (Rp3,000,000 per year), and children aged 0-6 years receive Rp750,000 per stage (Rp3,000,000 per year).

These assistance values are regulated under Minister of Social Affairs Decree Number 1/HUK/2020, updated through Minister of Social Affairs Regulation Number 1 of 2021 on the Implementation of the Family Hope Programme, and the Ministerial Decree concerning the Administration of the Staple Food/BPNT Programme of March 2021.

Saifullah explained that, in addition to assistance from the Ministry of Social Affairs, the government also channels various other assistance and social subsidy programmes through Bappenas, Bulog, and regional governments.

He said the government is currently consolidating all of these assistance schemes so that, going forward, they can be disbursed in an integrated manner in the form of cash assistance.

The transfer and restructuring of social assistance is supported by the update of socio-economic data by Statistics Indonesia (BPS), targeted for completion by the end of this year, as well as the development of a social assistance digitalisation system led by Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan as Chair of the National Economic Council (DEN).

“With the digitalisation of social assistance, this opens up the opportunity for everyone to apply for assistance. But it will be a machine that determines whether someone is eligible or not, no longer a person,” he said.