Fuel subsidies have imposed a serious burden on the national budget, accounting for 14 percent of total expenditures in 2012, a number that can increase dramatically depending on oil prices, as it did in 2011 when subsidies accounted for 38 percent of expenditures . The decision to cut the subsidies has not come without additional costs elsewhere, namely, the $900 million Jakarta promised to provide to 15.5 million low-income families to offset the cut's impact on the poorest 30 percent of Indonesia's population. But for Jakarta, the transfers are a political necessity and minor expense compared with the nearly $20 billion spent on subsidies in 2012, the same level anticipated for 2013 with the subsidy cut in effect. Without the cut, the Indonesian government projected the subsidy bill to hit as high as $29.7 billion this year. Indonesia's fuel subsidy policies are nearly as old as the country itself.