VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Based on the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) monitoring data in September 2017, the number of poor people in Indonesia reached 26.58 million people or 10.12 percent from the total population. Head of the Central Bureau of Statistics, Kecuk Suhariyanto explained the figure is an exciting achievement. The number of poor people decreased by 1.19 million people compared with that of March 2017 which amounted to 27.77 million people or 10.64 percent. In a Press Briefing held on Tuesday (2/1), he explained that the decline of poor people in 2017 is the best achievement compared to the last 7 years.

“September 2017 is the best achievement. It was the fastest decline when compared with the last 7 years since 2011. From March 2017 to September 2017, the percentage of the poor decreased to 0.52 percent,” Kecuk Suhariyanto said.

Suharyanto further explained the number of poor reduced both in the village and urban areas. According to him, the percentage of poor people in the village is much higher than that in the rural area. This shows that the disparities between the cities and villages are quite high. He explained that the factors causing the depletion of the poor are controlled by inflation, the increasing of wages of farm laborers, and the construction workers. Some food commodity prices have also decreased like sugar. In addition, the pre-prosperous rice program has also been received by the targeted families. (Sekar.trs.Rezha)