JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesia will provide an additional economic stimulus in the fourth quarter of this year, its chief economic minister said on Wednesday, with a package that could provide help for more than 100 million people.
Last month, Indonesia announced an economic stimulus package worth 16.23 trillion rupiah ($973.31 million), including food assistance and an infrastructure building programme that could provide temporary work for more than 600,000 people.
Minister Airlangga Hartarto told reporters that the government was preparing an additional package that will deliver benefits to more than 30 million families.
The budget for the additional stimulus is still being counted and the programmes are still being formulated, Airlangga said, adding the government will announce more details next week.
Indonesia will also give a “Christmas and New Year” stimulus, with discounts on train or boat fares. Plane tickets may drop by 12%-14% using this stimulus, Airlangga said.
The holiday season stimulus will stand at nearly $2 billion, Airlangga told The Financial Times this week.
The government announced last month that it would give out 18.3 million households 10 kilograms of rice in the fourth quarter, remove personal income tax for workers in the tourism sector and allocate 5.3 trillion rupiah for a “cash for work” scheme for more than 600,000 people over the September to December period.
($1 = 16,675 rupiah)
(Reporting by Stanley Widianto; Editing by Martin Petty and David Stanway)
