Dream - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto claimed that the budget for free lunch at the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs office is no more than Rp15,000. Airlangga stated that this free lunch program in his office has been ongoing for the past year.

The following 'Bahasa' text translated to 'English' while preserving any html tags: "This free lunch program is provided for all employees from OB to officials in the Ministry of Coordinating Economic Affairs. "So eating is a standard in the Office of the Coordinating Minister, it has been running for one year and the cost is no more than Rp15,000," said Airlangga, as quoted from liputan6.com, Saturday, March 9, 2024."

"Previously, Expert Staff of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs for the Eradication of Extreme Poverty, Ahmed Zaki Iskandar, emphasized that the free lunch program promoted by Prabowo-Gibran will not use School Operational Assistance (BOS) funds. He stated that the funding for this program will come from the state budget (APBN) but outside of the regular BOS funds."

"The suggestion is to prevent the issue from becoming chaotic, the suggestion is from Kab. Tangerang, the funding scheme from the state budget can be done through schemes such as BOS or through a separate BOS scheme without disrupting the regular BOS," said Ahmed Zaki. The funds for the lunch program can be channeled through specific BOS or Affirmative BOS. This way, it won't disturb the regular BOS funding."

Although so, the former Regent of Tangerang Regency said that regarding the origin of the budget for the free lunch program, it could change because the government is still accommodating various proposals. "So, whatever proposals there are in the future that previously went through the Special Allocation Fund (DAK) sent to the district/city and then sent to schools, but what is proposed by Tangerang Regency is through the BOS scheme," he said.