Indonesia to go ahead with free meals programme despite 'extraordinary' campaign against it, president says

Investors are questioning the cost of the $20 billion free meals plan

Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto said on Friday that he will proceed with his free meals programme despite the "extraordinary" campaign mounted against it, adding that it is being funded through budget efficiency measures.

"We will implement this programme," 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.

Investors have also expressed concern about Prabowo's big spending plans, including the $20 billion free meals scheme, but he said savings from elsewhere will ensure that Indonesia remains within its fiscal deficit limit of 3 percent of GDP.

"This is what we are saving money on, this is what we are diverting... Our state budget does not exceed the parameters we set," he said.

Since the programme's launch in January last year, at least 15,000 children across the countryhave fallen ill as a result of food poisoning.

During the event, Prabowo said the percentage of children affected was low and stressed that the overall scheme had "succeeded", with 60 million free meal recipients as of Friday.