VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Head of the Maluku Provincial Planning and Development Agency (Bappeda) Anton Lailossa has said that the number of poor residents in Maluku province has declined in the past four years.

"During the current administration, the number of poor people has decreased from above 300 thousand to only around 290 thousand," he informed here on Tuesday.

Data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS) has also shown that the percentage of poor people in Maluku has fallen in the past four years.

"According to BPS, Maluku Province's poverty (rate) was still above 17 percent. However, in September 2022, it stood at 16.23 percent," he noted.

According to Lailossa, if the decline can be maintained, the province's rank will decrease in terms of poverty.

"If it can be maintained, it is expected that in the not-too-distant future, we can surpass the province closest to us (in terms of the poverty rate), so that our ranking can be better than before," he added.

Maluku's poverty rate of 16.23 percent in September 2022 was the fourth highest in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Papua ranked first with a poverty rate of 26.8 percent, followed by West Papua at 21.43 percent, and East Nusa Tenggara at 20.23 percent.

Lailossa highlighted the importance of cooperation and coordination in managing funding sources for poverty-handling programs in Maluku province.

"We all can cooperate, coordinate various fund sources from the central government and non-government (parties), as well as those (funds) sourced from the regional budget (APBD)," the Maluku Bappeda head informed.

In addition, the poverty-handling programs that have been carried out, such as health services, social assistance distribution, scholarships for poor students, and industry center developments, need to be improved to make them more effective, he said.  (Antaranews)