VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo has said he hopes the government's wage subsidy program for low-income workers increases purchasing power, boosts household consumption and encourages economic growth.

"We hope that once again with this assistance, household consumption will not be disturbed, people's purchasing power will increase, and we hope that our country's economic growth will return to its normal position. Those are what (the outcomes) we want," he said at the State Palace in Jakarta on Thursday.

The President made the remarks while symbolically handing over salary subsidies to 15 representatives of subsidy recipients, who include honorary teachers, honorary firefighters, hotel employees, nurses, and cleaners.

The government will provide a salary subsidy of Rp600,000 per month for four months, or a total of Rp2.4 million, to 15,725,232 private workers and temporary employees of government agencies, who are earning less than Rp5 million per month as wages, and who registered for the BPJS manpower insurance program by 30 June, 2020.

The distribution of subsidies is being carried out twice, with Rp1.2 million disbursed in each round.

In the first phase, salary subsidies were channeled through state-owned banks to 2.5 million workers whose data had been verified.

At the launch of the salary subsidy program, the President chatted with several aid workers who qualified for the aid.

On the occasion, the President stated that the COVID-19 vaccine is expected to be produced in December 2020 or January 2021.

He said he was hopeful that the vaccination would help resolve the pandemic problem. "And God Willing, we will return to our normalcy," Jokowi remarked.  (ANTARA)