Economists Raise Concern Over Sustainability Of Indonesian Meal Program

JAKARTA, INDONESIA — Economists are raising concerns about the viability of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s program launched this year to combat child nutrition.

According to an Indonesian Ministry of Health Nutritional Status Study report, 21.6% of children ages 3 and 4 experienced stunting caused by malnutrition in 2022.

The first stage of the Free Nutritious Meal Program, extending through March, is intended to provide around 20 million Indonesian school children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers meals to improve their health and prevent stunting.

The effort was initially projected to cost $28 billion over five years. However, Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan said on Jan. 9 during a meeting on food security that the $4.4 billion budgeted for this year will run out in June and that $8.5 billion more will be requested to fund the program through December.

China, Japan, the United States and India have expressed support for the program, although it is unclear how much money will be provided or what form that support will take. Japan and India have said their help will be in the form of training.

Officials plan to implement the program in stages, eventually reaching 83 million people — more than a quarter of Indonesia’s 280 million population — by 2029, Muhammad Qodari, deputy chief of the presidential staff told reporters on Feb. 3.

The program is part of a long-term strategy to develop the nation’s youth to achieve a “Golden Indonesia” generation, referring to a plan to make Indonesia a sovereign, advanced and prosperous nation by its 2045 centennial.

The program's cost could make Prabowo politically vulnerable, according to Dinna Prapto Raharja, a professor of international relations at Jakarta’s Bina Nusantara University and a senior policy adviser at Jakarta consulting firm Synergy Policies.

“In order to finance this program, Prabowo has taken steps to implement major cutbacks in his government budget with some ministries seeing 50% cuts,” Dinna said.

“Now he is forced to seek financial assistance from overseas sources.” she told VOA on Jan. 31.

The Finance Ministry said the spending cuts would amount to $18.7 billion, 8% of this fiscal year’s approved spending.

While other nations said they would support the program, officials from the National Nutrition Agency — which manages the program — said internal talks about the level of foreign aid, type of assistance and technical aspects of its implementation have not begun.

- Author: Devianti Faridz, VOA