Sri Mulyani Targets Poverty Rate Of 26 Million People By 2021

Illustration. (Angga Nugraha / VOI)

JAKARTA - The 2021 State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) has been passed into a Law. The government's focus is still on handling in the health sector, protecting vulnerable communities, and supporting the recovery of the national economy (PEN) from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said that the pandemic that has hit the entire world since the beginning of the year has resulted in an increase in poverty and unemployment both globally and nationally.

Realizing the potential for increasing poverty and unemployment rates due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sri Mulyani said the government is trying to suppress it in various ways. One of them is by sharpening the effectiveness of social protection programs and national development programs.

"We will also control the poverty rate in 2021 in the range of 9.2 percent to 9.7 percent," he said, in Jakarta, Tuesday, September 29.

Data from the Ministry of Home Affairs through the Directorate General of Population and Civil Registration (Dukcapil) states that the total population of Indonesia as of June 30 is 268,583,016 people. If assumed, Sri Mulyani is targeting a poverty rate of 26 million people by 2021.

Sri Mulyani explained that unemployment is targeted at around 7.7 percent to 9.1 percent. The government is also trying to improve inequality (Gini ratio) to 0.377 to 0.379. Meanwhile, the achievement of human development is in the range of 72.78 to 72.95.

Previously, the Inspector General of the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) Sumiyati said that the economic recession that Indonesia will experience in the future will also affect the social and economic conditions of society as a whole. Including, in increasing the number of poverty and unemployment.

"Unemployment and poverty rates are expected to rise quite significantly, in which poverty is likely to rise by around 3.02 to 5.71 million people," he said, at the APIP-SPI-APH Supervision Synergy National Seminar on a virtual basis, Tuesday, September 29.

Meanwhile, said Sumiyati, the unemployment rate increased by approximately 4 million to 5.23 million people.

Sumiyati said, to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on people's welfare, an extraordinary policy is needed to keep the social and economic impacts caused by the pandemic from developing to be very heavy and sustainable.

According to Sumiyati, the government has responded to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by issuing various kinds of policy packages since the issuance of Perppu No.1 of 2020 which has become Law No.2 of 2020.

"Likewise PP No. 23/2020 concerning National Economic Recovery (PEN) and this is continuously adjusted to the dynamics that are occurring in Indonesia and globally," he said.