VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian Minister of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration (Mendes PDTT) Abdul Halim Iskandar conveyed that extreme poverty was measured by the Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) computed by the World Bank.

"Referring to the global measurement by the World Bank, the extreme poor are those who are living on less than $1.99 per capita per day, or around Rp12,000 per capita per day," he noted during an online press conference themed "Zero Percent of Extreme Poverty in Villages in 2024" monitored here, Wednesday.

Minister Iskandar affirmed that the PPP is equivalent to income below 80 percent of the rural poverty line in each district and city in Indonesia.

The minister is optimistic that extreme poverty in villages would be alleviated sooner than the set target of achieving zero-percent extreme poverty in 2024.

In the first phase, he remarked that extreme poverty alleviation was targeted in 8,264 villages in 35 districts for the 2021-2022 period.

Meanwhile, in the second phase, 29,632 villages in 138 districts and cities are targeted to be free from extreme poverty in 2022. In the third phase, the program is targeting to erase extreme poverty in 37,523 villages spread across 261 districts and cities in 2023.

"In 2024, we will continue (extreme poverty alleviation) in areas that still have cases of extreme poverty and conduct monitoring," he added.

The minister also noted that to eradicate extreme poverty in villages, his ministry had made efforts to update the Village SDGs data, including that on the residents' income.

"Hence, on the field, we can identify the extremely poor by name and address," he added. (Antaranews)