Jakarta (ANTARA) - Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy commended the success of the Tulungagung District Government, East Java Province, in alleviating extreme poverty in the area.

"The Tulungagung District Government did a very good job in alleviating poverty and must become a (role) model for other regions to reduce extreme poverty," he noted in Jakarta, Thursday.

Extreme poverty in Tulungagung had reached zero percent in 2022, according to a report conveyed during the ministry's roadshow on stunting reduction and poverty alleviation held online.

To this end, Effendy stated that currently, the central government was continuing the hard work to reduce the extreme poverty rate, which in 2021, was recorded at four percent and was targeted to reach zero percent by 2024.

"President Joko Widodo has assigned all stakeholders to commit to eliminating extreme poverty six years faster than the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target in 2030, to 2024," he remarked.

In order to reduce the extreme poverty rate, the government is striving to reduce the expenditure burden of population groups with extreme poverty levels by providing social assistance and subsidies as well as running empowerment programs to increase their productivity and economic capacity, the minister explained.

Meanwhile, Tulungagung District Head Maryoto Birowo stated that the efforts being made to reduce the poverty rate were by establishing short-term plans and utilizing information technology.

"At first, we implemented short-term policies that had been prepared in the first quarter that consisted of three priorities, namely preventing economic shocks through controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, on-time distribution of social security, and movement of the local economy," he explained.

Moreover, to accommodate the data collection process for poor families, the local government has also prepared an application called the Tulungagung Integrated Poverty Reduction Information System (SIPEKA), he stated.

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Translator: Wuryanti Puspitasari, Resinta S
Editor: Sri Haryati
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