JAKARTA: Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto said on Friday that he will proceed with his free meals program despite the “extraordinary” campaign mounted against it, adding that it is being funded through budget efficiency measures.
“We will implement this program,” Prabowo said during the launch of a free meal kitchen operated by the national police in Jakarta.
“We will face the extraordinary campaign, which said that I am wasting money,” he added.
Southeast Asia’s biggest economy has been in turmoil following a warning about stock market transparency by index provider MSCI, which caused a frantic sell-off that slashed the market’s value by $120 billion.
Days later, Moody’s cut its bond-rating outlook for Indonesia’s government and some of its companies to negative.
