Free Lunch and Milk Program Included in 2025 State Budget

February 23, 2024, 07.49 PM | Reporter: Siti Masitoh

ILUSTRASI. Airlangga Hartarto: Free Lunch and Milk Program Included in 2025 State Budget

POLICY – JAKARTA. The free lunch and milk program for school students and pregnant women, championed by Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka, has been confirmed to be included in the 2025 State Budget (APBN).

As it is known, the Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka pair is currently leading in the quick count results. For instance, the quick count conducted by Litbang Kompas, which has reached 100%, shows that this pair received 58.47% of the votes.

Minister of Economic Affairs Coordination, Airlangga Hartarto, has ensured that the free lunch and milk program will be part of the 2025 APBN.

Also, the Ministry of Finance has already begun discussions on the 2025 Macroeconomic Policy and Fiscal Policy Framework (KEM-PPKF), which is the initial step in designing the 2025 APBN.

“It’s included in the KEM-PPKF 2025,” said Airlangga to the media at the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs on Friday (February 23).

However, he declined to comment further on this new program. It is clear that the government will hold a cabinet meeting next week, on February 26, 2024, to prepare the KEM-PPKF.

Airlangga also emphasized that the free lunch program will be implemented gradually, without immediately allocating the massive budget of IDR 450 trillion.

“Budget allocation will be gradual; next Monday (during the KEM-PPKF preparation), we will determine the scale,” he explained.