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RI sees increase in number of poor people: BPS
The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) has recorded that as of September 2013, the number of poor people in Indonesia reached 28
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he Central Statistics Agency (BPS) has recorded that as of September 2013, the number of poor people in Indonesia reached 28.55 million or 11.47 percent of the Indonesian population, higher than the figure recorded in March 2013.
'In March 2013, it was recorded that the number of poor people reached 28.07 million or 11.37 percent of the total population. So, there was an increase in people living in poverty of around 480,000 people during March-September 2013,' said BPS head Suryamin in Jakarta on Thursday, as quoted by Antara news agency.
He said 300,000 out of this 480,000 lived in urban areas while the remaining 180,000 people were in rural areas.
Suryamin said that among factors that led to the increase in poverty was high inflation that reached 5.02 percent due to increases in fuel prices in June 2013 and the price of rice which experienced increases nationally.
'Moreover, in the period of March-September 2013, retail prices of several food commodities experienced increases such as chicken, which increased by 21.8 percent; eggs, 8.2 percent; and red chilies, 15.1 percent,' said Suryamin, adding that an increase in open unemployment in August 2013 was also a leading factor in the increasing levels of poverty.
The BPS reported that the highest percentages of poor people were in Maluku and Papua, at 24.24 percent and in Kalimantan, 6.66 percent.
The highest number of poor people, however, was in Java, amounting to 15.55 million people, while the lowest was in Kalimantan, with only 980,000.
During the period of March-September 2013, the poverty line increased by 7.85 percent, from Rp 271,626 (US$22.27) per capita per month in March to Rp 292,952 in September. (ebf)
