Amid this pandemic, in fact we (the government) have been able to make the year-on-year (poverty) rate to be lower than before the pandemic.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Vice President Ma'ruf Amin noted that the overall poverty rate has decreased over years, although there may be an increase in the number of impoverished people between the months.

"Indeed, the increase (in poverty rate) may happen in one month as compared to the other month, but there has been a decline year on year,” he remarked at a press conference at the Syamsudin Noor Air Force Base, Banjarmasin City, South Kalimantan Province, on Friday.

He made the statement as a response to the findings of Statistics Indonesia (BPS) that the poverty rate in Indonesia was recorded at 9.57 percent, or reaching 26.36 million people, in September 2022, up by around 200 thousand as compared to March 2022.

The vice president stated that the government's work to reduce poverty was hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, thereby resulting in an increase in the rate between the two months. However, there is a decline in the current poverty rate on an annual basis.

"Amid this pandemic, in fact, we (the government) have been able to make the year-on-year (poverty) rate to be lower than before the pandemic. There has been a decrease (in the rate to about) nine (percent), and we will continue to (reduce it)," he stated.

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He said the government has targeted to reduce the poverty rate to eight percent as well as realize zero-percent extreme poverty in 2024.

Amin noted that currently, four million people are living in extreme poverty.

Hence, his side is striving to reduce the figure by providing social protection assistance and implementing various community empowerment programs.

Earlier, the government also included the extreme poverty eradication programs in the National Economic Recovery (PEN) Program, and the extreme poverty rate had also fallen, he stated.

“We will review the data (on the progress achieved in extreme poverty eradication) later, and we hope that the target of zero-percent extreme poverty in 2024 can be achieved, unless there are extraordinary (emergency) conditions (like the COVID-19 outbreak),” he added.

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Translator: Rangga Jingga, Uyu Liman
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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