Sri Mulyani Reveals Indonesia's Poverty Rate Decreased During The Jokowi Government

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani (Photo: Antara)

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati said that since 2014 the government has reduced the poverty rate from double digits to single digits.

Sri Mulyani explained that the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) also plays an important role in improving people's welfare through reducing poverty from 11.25 percent in 2014 to single digits 9.36 percent in 2023.

"Extreme poverty has also decreased significantly from 6.18 percent in 2014 to 1.12 percent in 2023," he said at the Submission of the Principles of Government Information on the Bill on Accountability for the Implementation of the State Budget for Fiscal Year 2023 at the 20th Plenary Meeting, Thursday, July 4.

Sri Mulyani conveyed that through structural reforms and accompanied by healthy fiscal management, the level of community welfare in 2023 is also getting better.

According to Sri Mulyani, this is shown by the open unemployment rate which is decreasing from 5.86 percent in 2022 to 5.32 percent in 2023.

"Meanwhile, the poverty rate decreased from 9.54 percent to 9.36 percent and the Human Development Index increased from 73.77 to 74.39," he said.

Previously, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) noted that the domestic poverty rate had dropped to its lowest level in the last 10 years.

Acting President Secretary of BPS Imam Machdi said that in the last 10 years, the number of poor people has decreased by 3.06 million people or decreased by 2.22 percentage points. With these developments, on average, the number of poor people decreases by 300,000 people every year.

"The average poor population decreases by 300 thousand people per year. The poverty rate of 9.03 percent is the lowest in the last 1 decade," he said at a press conference, Monday, July 1.

Imam said that the poverty rate in March 2024 reached 9.03 percent or around 25.22 million people.

"The March 2024 poverty rate of 9.03 percent is the lowest poverty rate in a decade," he said.

Meanwhile, the determination of the status of poor population is determined by the poverty line. The poverty line in March 2024 was IDR 582,932, an increase of 5.90 percent compared to March 2023.

Meanwhile, based on components, food spending still dominates the poverty line with a portion of 74.44 percent. Meanwhile, non-food commodities are 25.56 percent.