The Number Of Poor People Will Reduce By 1 Million In 2021, Sri Mulyani's Subordinates Claim To Have A Share In The PEN Program

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) welcomes the report from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) which states that there will be a decline in the number of poor people in Indonesia in 2021.

The Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency (BKF) of the Ministry of Finance said Febrio Kacaribu's results cannot be separated from a number of strategic programs implemented by the government during the pandemic.

"The decline in the percentage and number of poor people cannot be separated from the National Economic Recovery (PEN) program," he said in a press statement today, Tuesday, January 18.

According to Febrio, the government's efforts to continue to protect the poor and vulnerable people affected by the pandemic will continue.

He noted, in the 2021 period the temporary realization of the total social protection budget, both implemented through central government spending and Transfers to Regions and Village Funds (TKDD) was IDR 480 trillion or 130.5 percent of the 2021 APBN ceiling.

"For 2022, the government ensures that the social protection program will remain strong and the amount will be adjusted to the speed of economic recovery," continued Sri Mulyani's subordinate.

Febrio said, Indonesia's economic recovery, which was getting stronger at the end of 2021, was reflected in the release of BPS poverty data. He explained if the poverty rate showed a decline and returned to touch the single digit level, namely 9.71 percent in September 2021, from the previous 10.14 percent in March 2021.

Then, judging from the number of people, the number of poor people in September 2021 was 26.50 million people, a decrease of 1.04 million people from March 2021 which was 27.54 million people.

"So this has approached the pre-pandemic level," closed Febrio.