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RI economic slowdown has resulted in more poverty, says Jokowi
Against poverty: President Joko âJokowiâ Widodo discusses poverty and inequality alleviation programs in a Cabinet meeting at the State Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday
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span class="inline inline-center">Against poverty: President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo discusses poverty and inequality alleviation programs in a Cabinet meeting at the State Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday.(Courtesy of the Presidential Office)
President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo has said that the poverty level has increased on account of slow economic growth and food-price increases.
"I want all policies, all programs in poverty and inequality alleviation to be implemented in an integrated way among Bank Indonesia [BI], the Financial Services Authority [OJK] and the State Logistics Agency [Bulog]," Jokowi said.
He was speaking in a limited Cabinet meeting at the State Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday that specifically discussed poverty alleviation and economic inequality as part of the government's commitment to addressing poverty and the inequality gap both among Indonesians and regions.
Based on BPS data in September 2015, the number of poor people reached 28.51 million, 11.13 percent of the population. The portion of poor people in urban areas reached 8.2 percent of the total population, while the percentage of poor people in the rural areas was higher at 14.09 percent of the total population.
As a result, the BPS says, the gini coefficient ratio, which reflects the gap between the rich and the poor, reached 0.41 in September 2015, in which the larger gap was found in cities, 0.43. Meanwhile, the gini ratio in the villages was 0.33.
Jokowi further said unstable food prices would easily eliminate all the positive effects of the programs focused on poverty alleviation.
"It must truly our concern," he asserted.
Jokowi further said that the distribution of social assistance cards, such as the Indonesia Health Cards (KIS), Indonesia Smart Card (KIP), and the Prosperous Family Card (KKS), should be completed in April.
The President also said that another pro-people program called the Village Fund program should be beneficial for people in villages nationwide. He called for more labor-intensive projects to improve the purchasing power of people in rural areas.
In the meeting, President Jokowi praised increases in the absorption of the public business credit loan (KUR) program, in which its interest rate now stood at 9 percent.
In a press conference after the meeting, Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution said the government agreed to establish an integrated pilot project on poverty alleviation in Brebes, Central Java, involving several ministries and institutions.
'It should start by improving land certification and KUR disbursement, and adopting mobile banking and e-money, with support from BI and the OJK," he said.
Darmin said the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry was ready to instruct a state firm to assist export and import activities in Brebes, a shallot producing area.
"In the future, we don't have to export the excess amount of shallots anymore because we can process and store them in the country," he said. Results of the pilot project would be implemented in handicraft, agriculture and tourism centers, he added. (ebf)(+)
