President of Indonesia Monitors Disbursement of Family Welfare Deposits in Bengkulu

28 November 2014

During his trip to Bengkulu on Thursday (26/11), President Joko Widodo monitored the distribution of Family Welfare Deposit at Bengkulu’s post office. The President also had the opportunity to interact with a recipient and head of the post office.

On 18 November 2014, the government began distributing Family Welfare Deposits to 15.5 million disadvantaged families with the lowest level of welfare, or 25 percent of households in Indonesia. In its first stage, each target family will receive Rp. 400,000 for the months of November and December 2014.

The President witnessed the smooth running of the distribution process. Even so, President Widodo stated that the programme will continue to be improved to ensure greater targeting accuracy, allowing the public to immediately feel its benefits. "We will pursue this issue after returning back to Jakarta. However, problems will emerge if we only conduct visits to the field when everything is prepared to look clear and bright," warned President Widodo.

During his visit, the President was accompanied by First Lady Iriana and the Governor of Bengkulu, Junaydi Amsyah, as well as several Working Cabinet Ministers. The President also said that up to now, the delivery of this assistance was going smoothly and on schedule. "In the provinces, things are running smoothly at the moment. There are no problems. Certainly, however, there are districts/cities that are not yet ready," he said.

The government is targeting the distribution of Family Welfare Deposits for November and December 2014 for completion in mid-December 2014. The government is providing assistance in the form of electronic money (digital financial services) to approximately 1 million families in 19 districts/cities, and via “Giro Pos” deposits to 14.5 million households in 34 provinces. The latest information regarding the distribution can be accessed through www.psks.info.