The government will provide a total of Rp300 thousand in cash assistance to 20.5 million families and 2.5 million street vendors to help ease their burden due to the increase in cooking oil prices.
“We will provide assistance of Rp100 thousand each month. The government will provide the assistance for three months, which will be paid in advance in April 2022,” President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said in a video broadcast on the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube channel on Friday.
The aid is being provided since the price of cooking oil has risen significantly tracking the surge in international palm oil prices, he added.
The aid will be provided to people who have been registered as beneficiaries of the government’s social assistance.
“The assistance will be provided to 20.5 million families who are included as the recipients of Non-Cash Food Assistance (BPNT) and the Family Hope Program (PKH) as well as 2.5 million street vendors who sell fried food,” the President informed.
He also asked the related ministries and institutions, including the Finance Ministry, Social Affairs Ministry, the military, as well as the police, to coordinate aid distribution.
Earlier, the Regulation of the Minister of Trade Number 6 of 2022 concerning the Determination of the Highest Retail Price of Palm Cooking Oil, issued on January 27, 2022, set the highest retail price for bulk cooking oil at Rp11,500 per liter, simple packaged cooking oil at Rp13,500/liter, and premium packaged cooking oil at Rp14 thousand/liter.
Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi had determined in February 2022 that the oil stocks in three big cities of Indonesia—Medan (North Sumatra province), Surabaya (East Java province), and Jakarta—were scarce.
Thus, the government revoked the regulation on March 17, 2022, and set the price for bulk cooking oil at Rp14 thousand per liter, or Rp15,500 per kilogram (kg).
The determined price will be subsidized by the government through the Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDPKS).
Source: Antara News