Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Finance Ministry confirmed that the middle and lower classes in Greater Jakarta or Jabodetabek will receive central government’s food assistance during the application of Large-Scale Social Distancing (PSBB) policy to stop coronavirus (COVID-19) transmission.

"The government is preparing this scheme, and we have coordinated with the Ministry of Social Affairs to provide food aid, in the form of commodities, to support the PSBB policy," Askolani, the ministry's director general of budget affairs, remarked during an online teleconference here on Wednesday

The food package assistance, supported by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), will be distributed in addition to other assistance schemes, including the Family Hope Program or PKH, Basic Needs Program, and Pre-Work Card Program.

"The Jakarta administration has provided such assistance, and the central government, through the Ministry of Social Affairs, will also provide food aid for families from the middle to lower class segments," he revealed.

The food package will comprise rice, cooking oil, and other staples, the distribution for which will be coordinated by the Social Affairs Ministry in cooperation with market management company PD Pasar Jaya.

The free food packages will be distributed monthly or twice a month.

Social Affairs Minister Juliari P. Batubara earlier stated that his side had prepared staple food assistance worth Rp600 thousand per month for poor families in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi (Jabodetabek) areas for a period of three months.

For Jakarta, this assistance program targets poor families, contract-based teachers, residents of modest flats, and micro-scale self-employed people whose incomes are affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.