Vice President Ma'ruf Brings Good News, 35 Regencies In 7 Provinces With Extreme Poverty Receive 2 Additional Aids

JAKARTA - Priority areas for solving extreme poverty will receive two additional social assistance programs, namely the Basic Food Program and Village Cash Assistance (BLT).

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin said this additional aid was intended to achieve zero percent extreme poverty by the end of 2021.

"There are 5 regencies (in Central Java) with these priorities", said Vice President Ma'ruf while chairing the Coordination Meeting on Extreme Poverty Alleviation at the Gradhika Bakti Praja Building, Semarang, Central Java, Antara, Thursday, October 7.

Central Java is one of the seven provinces that are priority areas for solving extreme poverty. The five districts that received the additional social assistance were Banyumas, Banjarnegara, Pemalang, Kebumen and Brebes.

Apart from Central Java, additional assistance was given to 6 provinces with 5 priority districts (total 35 districts).

Meanwhile, six other provinces that are priority areas for solving extreme poverty until the end of 2021 are West Java, East Java, Maluku, East Nusa Tenggara, Papua, and West Papua.

The priority provincial and district data is based on the National Socio-Economic Survey of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) as of March 2020. To achieve a zero percent poverty rate nationally, the government prioritizes the provision of social assistance and empowerment programs to increase community productivity.

Therefore, the Vice President asked all levels of the provincial government and five district governments in Central Java to analyze the program needs to accelerate the resolution of extreme poverty.

"I ask you all to study the various programs implemented by the Central Government and then work on them so that these programs can be ensured that extreme poor households in the five priority districts can be sure", said the Vice President.