February 3, 2026 | 03:50 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Airlangga Hartarto, said the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) program has reached approximately 60 million beneficiaries. The government plans to increase the number of program recipients to 82.9 million by 2026.
Airlangga stated that to achieve this target, the government estimates the budget requirement to be around Rp80 trillion per quarter. "It means that our spending for the free meal program every quarter is around Rp80 trillion," said Airlangga at the Indonesia Economic Summit in Shangri-La Jakarta, on Tuesday, February 3, 2026.
Airlangga mentioned that the government calculated that for every 1 percent of economic growth, around 400,000 workers could be absorbed. Assuming the supply chain runs optimally, he estimated that the MBG program could have an economic impact equivalent to a growth contribution of around 7 percent.
He said these calculations form the basis of the government's optimism about achieving an 8 percent economic growth target by 2028. Overall, Airlangga mentioned that the budget for the Free Nutritious Meal program in 2026 reached Rp335 trillion.
According to him, the program has the potential to create around 3 million jobs, provided that the supply chain runs effectively.
On the same occasion, Airlangga conveyed that Indonesia's economic growth improved the welfare of its people. He mentioned that the poverty rate had decreased to 8.5 percent, the unemployment rate to 4.9 percent, and the Gini Ratio stood at 0.375. The Human Development Index, he said, had increased to 75.9.
Airlangga assessed that strong cross-sectoral coordination is reflected in various economic indicators that demonstrate Indonesia's resilience. In the medium term, he said President Prabowo Subianto aims for 8 percent economic growth as a foundation for Indonesia Emas 2045 (Indonesia Gold 2045).
According to him, the main drivers of this growth are the service sector, high-value manufacturing, and the development of renewable energy, hydrogen, and semiconductors.
Read: Prabowo Claims Free Meal Program Created 1 Million Jobs
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