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Benign inflation boosts public confidence in Jokowi: Survey
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President Joko Widodo distributes writing books to school children during his working visit in Papua on Oct. 18. (Biro pers Istana/Rusman)
I
ndonesians are gaining confidence in the President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla administration in steering the economy, in line with its success in driving inflation down, according to a Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) survey.
The survey, which interviewed 1,220 respondents from Oct 13 to 17, found that 61.4 percent of the respondents were satisfied with the government with only 29.3 percent unsatisfied.
On the economy, 45 percent of them perceived better conditions in their household this year. However, 31 percent saw no changes in their household finances, and 23 percent said their situation had deteriorated.
“The sentiment on economic condition is heavily related to the inflation data regularly released by the BPS [Central Statistics Agency], with negative sentiment getting stronger amid high inflation [and] weaker amid low inflation,” said Sirojudin Abbas in the report, released in Jakarta on Sunday.
The BPS reported 3.07 percent inflation last September, less than half the rate of September 2015 at 6.83 percent. Better purchasing power could be seen, Abbas said, as 16 percent of respondents had more capacity to buy staple foods this year.
While 49 percent of respondents stated being burdened more heavily when purchasing staple foods, despite lower inflation, the survey also said 56 percent of respondents were optimistic in the economy improving in the year ahead. (ags)
