JAKARTA, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia will expand its free meals program, set to be implemented in 2025, to benefit not only school students but also pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and toddlers, according to Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati on Tuesday.
"The government agrees with the parliamentary factions that the free meals program, funded by the state budget, should also target pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and toddlers," Indrawati said during a hearing with parliament.
The program aims to improve nutritional adequacy, enhance child intelligence, prevent stunting and ultimately boost the quality of human resources in the country, Indrawati added.
Preventing stunting remains a priority for the government, which successfully reduced its prevalence from 37.2 percent in 2013 to 21.5 percent in 2023.
The government has allocated approximately 71 trillion rupiah (around 4.57 billion U.S. dollars), or 0.29 percent of the gross domestic product, to the program. It also aims to stimulate economic growth by around 0.10 percent through the employment of 820,000 micro, small and medium Enterprises (MSME) workers linked to the program.■
