"In terms of public welfare, the number of poor people continues to drop," the president said.Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The number of Indonesian people living in poverty fell to 27.77 million in March 2017 from 28.37 million in March 2015, President Joko Widodo said.
"In terms of public welfare, the number of poor people continues to drop," the president said while delivering the governments views on the bill concerning the draft 2018 state budget at a plenary meeting with the House of Representatives (DPR) here on Wednesday.
He stated that the government will take maximum efforts to lower the national poverty rate more quickly by launching innovative programs aimed at eradicating poverty and providing social protection.
The gap between the rich and the poor shows a downward trend as could be seen from the Gini ratio index, which decreased to 0.393 in March 2017 from 0.408 in March 2015, he said.
The unemployment rate also fell to 5.33 percent in Feb 2017 from 5.61 percent in Feb 2015, he noted.
He remarked that the income in the draft 2018 state budget reached Rp1,878.4 trillion and state pending stood at Rp2,204.4 trillion.
The state expenditures will be allocated for activities to lower poverty rate and disparities, as well as create justice and social protection for the people through an effective social protection program, he explained.
The other efforts include improving the quality of state spending by increasing the quality of productive capital expenditures and the efficiency of non-priority expenditures, including on goods expenditures and subsidies.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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