Indonesia may need US$6bil more to expand free-lunch programme


Prabowo’s flagship programme derives from his campaign promise to provide free, nutritious meals to millions of schoolchildren and pregnant women. - PHOTO: REUTERS

JAKARTA (Bloomberg): Indonesia may need an additional 100 trillion rupiah (US$6.1 billion) this year to expand President Prabowo Subianto’s free lunch program to cover nearly 83 million people by year-end, according to a top official.

"The president has instructed us to accelerate the program,” Dadan Hindayana, head of the national nutrition agency, said in a text message on Saturday. "If the president wants to accelerate the program in September-December, we need 100 trillion rupiah in extra funding,” he added.

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