Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Presidential and vice presidential candidates Prabowo-Gibran are committed to continuing a number of President Joko Widodo’s subsidy programs, especially in the energy sector. The Prabowo-Gibran National Campaign Team said that subsidies are a burden on the state budget, but are still needed.
“In our opinion, subsidies need to be continued, this is in the negative quotation marks that are needed,” said TKN Deputy Chair Eddy Soeparno in the Your Money Your Vote program on CNBC Indonesia, Wednesday (15/11/2023).
Eddy assesses that the subsidy program in the Jokowi era has been running well. Prabowo-Gibran, he said, intend to continue these programs better.
“Our policy is a continuation of Pak Jokowi’s policy which has been successful so far, but we are providing reinforcement,” he said.
He said one of these policies was in the field of energy imports and subsidies. He said subsidies were still needed, because after Covid-19 people’s purchasing power fell.
“It cannot decrease, because what drives our economy is consumption,” he said.
Therefore, he said, subsidy policies, especially those that relate directly to the community, such as 3 kilogram LPG and Pertalite, need to be maintained. However, he said, Prabowo-Gibran will try to improve the target recipients.
“3 kg LPG is the biggest, but the leak is also the biggest. Currently 80% of the users are well-off people, especially Pertalite,” said Eddy.
To improve the accuracy of targeting subsidies, Eddy said Prabowo-Gibran would strengthen regulations. He said there would be sanctions for those who were not entitled, but still enjoyed the subsidy.
“So what needs to be strengthened now is regulation so that there are clear arrangements and sanctions for who has the right to use it and if someone doesn’t have the right but still uses the sanctions, the sanctions are still there,” he said.
Eddy did not deny that banning the use of 3 kg LPG and Pertalite for some people would cause inflation. This is because people are forced to buy more expensive fuel such as Pertamax.
“This means there is a risk of inflation, this is something that needs to be considered and requires in-depth study before we make this regulation,” he stressed.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
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