IN FOCUS: How has Prabowo fared after 6 months as Indonesia’s president?

The programme needs 750 trillion rupiah per year, and for this year the government has set aside 40.27 trillion rupiah, with the hopes of getting the remaining funds from foreign investors. “The free nutritious meal programme has indeed spurred economic growth, but it also has contributed to a deficit budget because the budget for the programme is taken from the budget which was supposed to be used for other things,” said Wijayanto. “The programme is actually good but (only) as long as there is ample budget and (it is) not taking up the budget for other programmes,” said Mega, who only wants to be identified by her first name and works as a banker.