Friday, June 12, 2020

Covid-19: Indonesia lists 4 key steps to assist poor, vulnerable groups



KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 -- Republic of Indonesia Social Affairs Minister, Juliari P. Batubara has conveyed the government’s important steps in handling the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly for poor and vulnerable groups.

This follows an online meeting themed, ‘Special Online Meeting of the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Social Welfare and Development on Mitigating Impact of COVID-19 on Vulnerable Groups in ASEAN’, in which Juliari acted as Indonesian Delegation Chair.

According to a statement, the meeting was opened by ASEAN Secretary-General Datuk Lim Jock Hoi and attended by 10 ASEAN member ministers dealing with social welfare issues.

During the meeting, Juliari delivered four important steps in mitigating the socio-economic impact of the pandemic.

The first step was to increase the number and coverage of social assistance and social safety nets, and amount of assistance for several social protection programmes.

Second, strengthening government investment in the development of Integrated Social Welfare Data, and formulating an adaptive social protection platform, in accordance with the 2019-2024 National Medium-Term Development Plan and Ministry of Social Affairs Strategic Plan 2020-2024.

The fourth is the crucial role of social solidarity.

“In the new (fourth) fiscal stimulus, the government allocates a budget of Rp677.2 trillion, of which Rp203.9 trillion is for social protection,” said the minister. (RM1 = Rp3,310)

This amount increased, compared to the third fiscal stimulus which amounted to Rp405.1 trillion, of which Rp110 trillion is for social protection.

-- BERNAMA

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