Indonesia Slashes Rp50tn from Free Nutritious Meals Outlay for 2025

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs, Zulkifli Hasan, said the budget for the free nutritious meal program this year will reach Rp121 trillion in total. He spoke to journalists after holding a limited cross-ministerial meeting on the acceleration of the free meal program. Dadan Hindayana, the Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), also attended the meeting.

"Dadan said the budget until December will amount to Rp121 trillion, and we will strive to reach 82.9 million receivers after this," the minister said on Thursday, June 26. Minister Zulkifli mentioned that the absorbed budget for free nutritious meals until June was Rp5 trillion, with 5,560,648 students benefiting from the program.

The government initially allocate Rp71 trillion to fund the free meal program in State Budget. The government then added Rp100 trillion, bringing the total funding managed by BGN to Rp171 trillion. Meaning, the budget will be cut around Rp50 trillion this year. 

The budget, the minister said, will be reduced to reflect the implementation capabilities. "Currently, (absorption) is only Rp 5 trillion, and it's already June. We will accelerate the distribution," he said.

When confirmed separately, Dadan stated that his agency proposed the spending plan according to the needs. He mentioned that the target of 82.9 million beneficiaries can be achieved by November. "So, Rp50 trillion additional funding is sufficient," said Dadan to Tempo via a brief message on Thursday, June 26, 2025.

Previously, Dadan also mentioned that the biggest challenge in providing free nutritious meals is the readiness of infrastructure facilities. However, he stated that the budget absorption will significantly increase from August onwards. "Especially in November and December, estimated to reach Rp20 trillion per month," he said in an interview with Tempo published on June 23, 2025.

Dian Rahma Fika Alnina contributed to the writing of this article.

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