Minister targets achieving zero percent extreme poverty in two years

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Social Affairs Minister Saifullah Yusuf stated that the government is pursuing to achieve the target of zero percent extreme poverty rate in two years.

"We are striving to reduce the extreme poverty rate to zero percent from the current rate of 0.83 percent," Yusuf noted in a press conference with Population and Family Planning Minister Wihaji in Jakarta on Tuesday.

He stated that the government is striving to reduce the poverty rate to under six percent from the current rate of 9.03 percent based on the latest Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data.

To support the government's poverty alleviation programs, the social welfare data of the Ministry of Social Affairs will be integrated with the population and family development data of the Ministry of Population and Family Planning.

He affirmed that President Prabowo has directed BPS to integrate data across all ministries, with particular focus on data from the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Population and Family Planning, under the guidance of the Ministry of National Development Planning.

Minister Wihaji affirmed that the president had also pressed to eliminate sectoral ego and intensify cooperation to support each other, especially in improving the quality of human resources.

The Ministry of Population and Family Planning will increase its collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs so that cooperation between both ministries can run quickly, effectively, and efficiently and enable immediate action.

Based on data from BPS, since 2014, the percentage of Indonesians living in extreme poverty has continued to decline from 6.18 percent to 0.83 percent, or around 2.3 million people, as of March 2024.