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Indonesia promises to push poverty eradication programs
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Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution (left) and Agrarian and Spatial Planning Minister Sofyan Djalil talk after attending a limited Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Office in Jakarta on Feb. 16. (Antara/Wahyu Putro A)
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oordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution has stressed that the government would push its poverty eradication programs after the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) announced on Monday the increasing number of poor people in the country.
“Actually, we have introduced a policy on economic equality. As for its implementation, we need time,” said Darmin as reported by kompas.com.
The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) announced on Monday that the population of poor citizens reached 27.77 million people in March, an increase of 6,900 people compared to the figure in September 2016. This means that the poverty rate is 10.64 percent of the total population.
[RA:Poverty, inequality rates stagnant::http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2017/07/17/poverty-inequality-rates-stagnant.html]
Darmin stressed that reducing poverty rate to under 10 percent was difficult, although the government had introduced a number of programs including on agrarian reform, vocational school development, business opportunity expansion and job creation.
He said the government would start pushing the implementation of the programs in August.
Speaking on the cause of the increasing population of poor people, Darmin said, farmers' incomes declined as a result of poor harvests.
“The harvest was not so good due to lack of rain. It disrupted farmers’ earnings,” he said, adding that the decreased productivity in the agriculture sector significantly impacted farmers' wealth. (bbn)
