He held a meeting with other ministries and agencies in Jakarta on Friday to discuss efforts to accelerate the handling of poverty and extreme poverty.
"The meeting followed up on the President's instruction to reduce extreme poverty to zero percent by 2026," Iskandar said.
He added that the number of poor has currently reached 24.8 million, accounting for 8.7 percent of the total population of Indonesia.
While the extreme poverty rate is targeted to decline to zero percent by 2026, the government is aiming to reduce the poverty rate to 4.5 percent by 2029.
"Hopefully, our poverty rate can decrease even further," the minister said.
Friday's meeting also discussed the National Integrated Socio-Economic Data (DTSEN), which is currently being prepared by the government.
Iskandar said that DTESN will be used by ministries and agencies in implementing programs so that services to beneficiaries are on target.
For instance, he explained, with the presence of the DTESN, the housing subsidies provided by the Ministry of Housing and Settlement can benefit those who are really eligible and really need assistance.
The meeting was attended by Housing and Settlement Minister Maruarar Sirait; head of the Poverty Alleviation Acceleration Agency, Budiman Sudjatmiko; and the head of Statistics Indonesia (BPS), Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, among others.
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Translator: Anita Permata, Raka Adji
Editor: Primayanti
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