Indonesian Authorities Team with Digital Identity Platform to Improve Fuel Subsidy Program

“With backing from the ID2020 digital identity alliance, the organizations are planning pilot projects that will assess how their new system can improve efficiency, transparency, and inclusivity for the National LPG Subsidy Program.”

A new public-private partnership in Indonesia is looking to blockchain, biometrics, and mobile identity in order to improve the efficiency of a major social welfare program in Indonesia.

The National LPG Subsidy Program is aimed at delivering liquefied petroleum gas to about 41 million Indonesian households, offering them a safer and less expensive fuel for cooking than kerosene. Now, the National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction (“TNP2K”) has teamed up with Everest, a San Diego-based firm whose eponymous digital wallet platform uses biometric authentication and a blockchain ledger system for its transactions. With backing from the ID2020 digital identity alliance, the organizations are planning pilot projects that will assess how their new system can improve efficiency, transparency, and inclusivity for the National LPG Subsidy Program.

In a statement announcing the collaboration, Everest CEO Bob Reid explained that by embracing this technologically innovative approach to subsidy dispersement, the Indonesian government “is modernizing government service delivery, cutting down on leakage, and enabling banking services with enhanced financial inclusion. TNP2K Executive Secretary Bambang Widianto, meanwhile, suggested that the system is expected “to save more than USD 1.3 billion in government subsidy funds.”

The organizations involved haven’t yet announced a timeline for their pilot program, but say that it will be the first of its kind in the ASEAN region, suggesting that it will get underway in the near future.