Indonesia announces social assistance programmes to deal with COVID-19
Indonesian President Joko Widodo on March 31 announced six social assistance programmes benefiting households seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Source: indonesiaexpat.biz)
Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesian President Joko Widodo on March 31 announcedsix social assistance programmes benefiting households seriously affected bythe COVID-19 pandemic.
One among the schemes is to increase the number ofbeneficiary families of the conditional cash transfer programme from 9.2million to 10 million, and the yearly assistance also rises 25 percent,starting from April.
The number of recipients of groceries cards will increasefrom 15.2 million to 20 million, with monthly benefits rising from 150,000 Rp (9USD) to 200,000 Rp for nine months.
The Workers’ Card will be raised from 10 trillion Rp to 20trillion Rp to cover around 5.6 million informal workers, and micro- and small-sizedbusinesses. Beneficiaries will receive post-training incentives of 600,000 Rp,with training costs of 1 million Rp in the next four months.
The President also announced electricity fee waiver in threemonths for 24 million 450VA electricity customers, and 50 percent discount for7 million subsidised 900VA customers.
The fifth social assistance programme has a total capital of25 trillion Rp, providing logistics support for basic needs and basic food.
Meanwhile, the final programme will be carried out by the FinancialServices Authority of Indonesia by providing credit packages for informallabourers such as taxi and motorcycle drivers, fishermen and those working insmall businesses.
According to the World Bank report Aspiring Indonesia, onlyone out of five Indonesians is economically secure. Around 24.8 millionIndonesians, or 9.22 percent of the population, live on under 1 USD a day andover 60 million are vulnerable to dropping into poverty./.
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Indonesian President Joko Widodo on March 31 declared a national public health emergency over the COVID-19 pandemic and announced measures to help people with lower incomes.
Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo announced on March 31 that the country will provide free electricity and discounts for poor households to help them cope with the economic shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Source: indonesiaexpat.biz) 
