East Java optimistic eradicating extreme poverty in 5 districts: VP

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The East Java provincial government is optimistic that it will be able to bring down the rate of extreme poverty in five priority districts to zero percent by year end, Vice President Ma'ruf Amin has said.

"From the meeting, I witnessed that everyone is confident that each district will overcome extreme poverty by December 2021," Amin remarked after leading a meeting at Grahadi State Building at Surabaya, East Java Province, on Thursday.

Earlier the same day, the Vice President led a coordination meeting to accelerate the elimination of extreme poverty with Surabaya Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa and the heads of five districts Lamongan, Bojonegoro, Sumenep, Probolinggo, and Bangkalan which have been prioritized for poverty reduction efforts.

During the meeting, Amin said he had earned about intervention measures that will be funded by the regional budget (APBD) of districts, province, and the central government.

"And later, it will be supplemented with the participation of private groups through partnerships and CSR (corporate social responsibility) to lessen extreme poverty," he added.

The Indonesian government has prioritized seven provinces, including East Java, as part of a larger effort to reduce extreme poverty rates in 35 districts and cities by the end of 2021, as they represent 20 percent of the total national extreme poverty rate.

"This aligns with our target for 2024. The national extreme poverty rate, which has hit 10.68 million, must be overcome until (it becomes) zero percent," the Vice President affirmed.

Based on data from the National Socioeconomic Survey conducted by Statistics Indonesia, in March 2020, the total number of people living in extreme poverty in the five prioritized districts stood at 508,571 people, which amounted to 265,180 households.

Of the five districts prioritized in East Java, Probolinggo has a poverty rate of 9.74 percent with 114,250 poor people, Bojonegoro has 6.05 percent or 50,200 people living in poverty, and Lamongan has 7.37 percent or 87,620 people living in poverty. Meanwhile, Bangkalan has a poverty rate of 12.44 percent with the number of poor pegged at 123,490 and Sumenep 11.98 percent with 130,750 poor people.

Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita and Minister of Cooperatives, Small, and Medium Enterprises, Teten Masduki, also attended Thursday's meeting with the Vice President.