The government’s decision to make price adjustments will certainly have an effect on the community. One of them is the increase in the price of basic necessities.
The presence of BLT is expected to be a cushion for the community against the impact of fuel price adjustments.
“The purpose of social cushioning is to maintain the impact of a shock on the economy on vulnerable groups who lack or do not have the ability to resist the shock. This cushion should be temporary and short term primarily to maintain the purchasing power and consumption of vulnerable people,” said Telisa Falianty, an economist from the University of Indonesia. Indonesia in Jakarta, Wednesday (14/9/2022).
Talisa Fallianty emphasized, BLT aims to make people survive, this BLT is only temporary. The most important thing is how to design job opportunities that can absorb many people. Apart from that, it also improves the distribution of subsidies for school scholarships or health facilities, and others.
“The suggestion is that because BLT is temporary in nature, it must be integrated with productive assistance and employment absorption. By creating jobs as well as maintaining food price stability, it will reduce the negative impact of rising fuel prices,” he said.
According to him, the government needs to have accurate and up-to-date data so that the aid programs launched can meet the needs of the community. Telisa Falianty said that giving BLT was indeed a form of good faith from the government.
“There are still many people who should have received BLT but have not received it and vice versa, those who are not entitled to receive it. This must continue to be improved on one side of targeting accuracy, and improvement and updating of social registry data is very necessary so that people who really need and are affected can be helped,” said the woman who is also a Lecturer in Economics at the University of Indonesia.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Social Affairs (Mensos) Tri Rismaharini emphasized that the Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos) corrects the data on social assistance recipients every month so that the BBM Direct Cash Assistance (BLT) is right on target. The update of the BLT recipient data is determined by the Ministry of Social Affairs based on the recommendation of the regional government.
“Every month, I make a new decree to make sure the data stays updated. Not twice a year, but every month, because the movement of data is very dynamic,” said Risma in a dialogue with the Cipayung Plus Group in Jakarta.
Separately, the Director of the University of Indonesia’s School of Strategic and Global Studies (SKSG), Athor Subroto supported the Government’s efforts to distribute BLT. He saw that the policy was able to maintain people’s purchasing power, as well as strengthen the confidence of foreign investors in Indonesia
Athor also sees that BLT BBM cannot be given continuously to the community, because there are budget constraints, so a more varied approach to subsidizing is needed.
