VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

More than 8.4 million workers have received wage subsidy assistance (BSU) from the government so far, Minister of Manpower, Ida Fauziyah, said at the Presidential Palace here on Tuesday.

"We have reached phase V. We have disbursed it (the assistance) to 8,432,533 people or equal to 57.60 percent (of the target)," she added.

According to Fauziyah, the disbursement of the assistance to the remaining 6.2 million workers is still on.

To accelerate the disbursal of the aid to workers who have no bank account or those facing difficulty in accessing banking services, the ministry is cooperating with state-owned postal company PT Pos Indonesia (Persero).

"We will cooperate with PT Pos so that the distribution is faster," she remarked.

The minister expressed the hope that by cooperating with PT Pos Indonesia, the disbursement will be faster because the beneficiaries will not need to open bank accounts with state-owned banks (Himbara banks).

The government is providing wage subsidy assistance for eligible workers to maintain their purchasing power amid the increase in prices of goods due to a rise in fuel prices.

Under the program, Rp600 thousand is being provided to the target beneficiaries.

The targeted beneficiaries are workers who meet several requirements: they are Indonesian nationals, active participants in the Workers Social Security Agency's (BPJS Ketenagakerjaan's) program as of July 2022, earn a maximum of Rp3.5 million per month, and are not state civil apparatus (ASN) or members of the Indonesian Military (TNI) or National Police (Polri)

Earlier, the Indonesian government raised the price of subsidized Pertalite fuel from Rp7,650 per liter to Rp10 thousand per liter, subsidized diesel from Rp5,150 per liter to Rp6,800 per liter, and non-subsidized Pertamax from Rp12,500 to Rp14,500 per liter.

The price increase came into force after the government diverted fuel subsidies to provide social assistance since the spending on energy subsidies and energy compensation from the state budget had reached Rp502.4 trillion, with energy subsidies accounting for Rp208.9 trillion and energy compensation Rp293.5 trillion of the total figure. (Antaranews)