"Social assistance is mainly for the poor. There are three levels (of the poor); they are prioritized by the government," he said in Jakarta on Saturday.
Iskandar explained that the social assistance provided by the government serves as a cushion for threats against people's economic conditions.
The Coordinating Ministry for Community Empowerment is seeking to increase social assistance funds for the empowerment of poor communities through the efficiency and simplification of programs in the state budget.
Even though the exact amount of increase in funds has not been determined, he affirmed that the step is expected to increase social assistance allocation to help people with weak economic conditions become more productive.
In the 2024 National Regional Government Coordination Meeting held on November 7, 2024, Minister Iskandar expressed hope that his ministry would receive a social assistance fund allocation of Rp100 trillion (around US$6.31 billion) in 2025.
The Indonesian government is currently seeking to shift the paradigm of social assistance that it provides to become an empowerment program targeting 8.3 percent of Indonesia's population or equal to 23–24 million people, with 2.3 million of them being people living in extreme poverty.
The empowerment program covers several things, such as training, access to capital, market creation, upgrading of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), upgrading of economic actors, and raw materials for production.
According to data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the poverty rate in Indonesia as of March 2024 stood at 9.03 percent, or equal to 25.22 million people.
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Translator: Donny Aditra, Raka Adji
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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