Indonesia's National Nutrition Agency (BGN) has acknowledged owing Rp1.609 trillion to partners in its Free Nutritious Meal program (MBG), a debt that piled up through the 2025 budget year under former agency head Dadan Hindayana. BGN disclosed the figure at a hearing with Commission IX of the House of Representatives (DPR) at the parliament complex in Senayan, Jakarta, on Friday, July 17, 2026.

BGN is the state body that manages the MBG program's budget and operations, from building kitchens to distributing food to thousands of Nutrition Fulfillment Service Units (SPPG) nationwide. The disclosure did not come from BGN's permanent head. Deputy Head Agustina Arumsari made it as acting head, filling in because Head Nanik S Deyang was absent due to illness.

Where does the Rp1.609 trillion debt come from?

The largest component is capital spending on SPPG kitchen construction: Rp1.04 trillion, about 65 percent of the total. The rest is spread across event organizer and publication services (Rp330.4 billion), government aid for the MBG program (Rp100.6 billion), SPPG certification (Rp111.6 billion), operational supplies such as uniforms, call center services and spoons (Rp16.1 billion), and shipping costs to Universitas Pertahanan, the national defense university (Rp7.3 billion). Smaller items include honorariums for speakers (Rp812.9 million), official travel (Rp684.3 million), consultant services (Rp200 million) and vehicle rental (Rp121.9 million).

"There is the event organizer, publication and so on, Rp330 billion. We also still owe Universitas Pertahanan Rp7.3 billion," Agustina told Commission IX members.

Agustina said every one of those items covers work partners completed in 2025 that has yet to be paid. "There are arrears of about Rp1.609 trillion for work that has been finished but not yet paid," she said.

An apology amid a leadership change

The debt is now a burden for BGN's new leadership, even though it originated under the previous one. President Prabowo removed Dadan Hindayana as BGN head on June 2, 2026, then installed Nanik S Deyang as the new head on June 8, 2026, alongside Agustina Arumsari, a former deputy head of BPKP, the state financial and development oversight agency, and Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Trenggono as deputy. Dadan is now a suspect in the MBG corruption case handled by the Attorney General's Office.

Friday's hearing was Agustina's first chance to lay out BGN's debt in detail publicly since taking office. "We may need to apologize to all third parties who may have bills with BGN that we have not yet been able to fully settle," she said.

She promised repayment through the new fiscal year's budget. "There is Rp1.6 trillion in completed work. I mean the activities are finished but not yet paid. It will be paid through the arrears mechanism via the 2026 DIPA," the budget execution document, Agustina said.

Why does this matter to MBG partners?

Arrears of this size squeeze partners' cash flow directly: SPPG kitchen contractors, event organizer service providers, certification bodies and Universitas Pertahanan all finished their work last year but have not been paid. For small vendors and micro, small and medium enterprises that depend on government contracts to cover daily operating costs, a delay this large can threaten their own survival.

The issue adds to scrutiny of BGN's financial management, an agency that controls a huge budget for a national priority program, just as its former leader faces a corruption case. The House had already floated forming a working committee (panja) to evaluate MBG governance, and the newly disclosed arrears are likely to feed into that committee's agenda.

The road to repayment is still long

Releasing the Rp1.609 trillion cannot happen immediately. As of the hearing, the arrears mechanism through the 2026 DIPA was still under budget revision with the Directorate General of Budget at the Finance Ministry. Some bills must also pass review by the Budget User Authority, the Inspectorate and BPKP before funds reach partners' accounts.

BGN itself is reworking MBG program priorities, including refocusing beneficiaries to prioritize underserved, frontier and remote (3T) regions, while under pressure to settle debt inherited from the previous administration.

What to watch

How quickly the Directorate General of Budget completes its revision, and what the Budget User Authority, Inspectorate and BPKP find in their reviews, will determine how fast partners get paid. Agustina's promise to clear the full Rp1.609 trillion within the 2026 fiscal year still needs to be proven. Nanik S Deyang's health will also shape when she resumes leading hearings with the House directly, and Commission IX could follow up with a deeper audit of BGN's financial management under Dadan Hindayana.