Indonesia looks to curb cost concerns over Prabowo's free meal program

JAKARTA -- Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto's flagship policy of introducing free school lunches will not blow the country's budgetary targets for next year, the nation's finance minister said, looking to allay concerns over the costly program's fiscal impact.

Prabowo, who will take over from incumbent President Joko Widodo in October, promised during February's presidential election that he would provide free lunches and milk to a total of 78.5 million students at some 400,000 schools nationwide, aiming to reduce malnourishment and curb cases of stunted growth.