Vice President Hands Over Fiscal Incentives Of IDR 5.7 Billion To The HST Regency Government Of South Kalimantan

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin (right) symbolically handed over fiscal incentive funds to the Regent of Hulu Sungai Tengah (HST), South Kalimantan, Aulia Oktafiandi (left), at the Vice Presidential Palace, Jakarta, Thursday (9/11/2023). BETWEEN/HO-HST Regency Government

HULU SUNGAI TENGAH - Vice President (Wapres) Ma'ruf Amin handed over fiscal incentive funds for the category of efforts to accelerate the elimination of extreme poverty in 2023 amounting to IDR 5.7 billion to the Central Hulu Sungai Regency Government (HST Regency Government), South Kalimantan (Kalsel).

"I want this fiscal incentive fund to be able to improve the performance of local governments, and reach more pre-sesejahtera family groups," said the Vice President as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, November 9.

The vice president as the head of the National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction (TNP2K), reminded local governments regarding the development of achieving the target of reducing the national poverty rate.

"I ask the local government to refocus on the 2024 budget, to be more partial to rural communities, please prioritize villagers in disadvantaged areas," said Vice President Ma'ruf.

The vice president said that based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the national poverty rate as of March 2023 was only 9.36 percent. In fact, the 2020-2024 National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) is at 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent.

According to the Vice President, a special policy approach is needed to support the RPJMN target, namely through various programs ranging from local governments to the central government.

The Vice President revealed that the elimination of the poor in rural areas tends to be left behind compared to urban areas. This requires attention through intervention, namely optimizing the implementation of village funds to accelerate poverty reduction in rural areas.

HST Regent Aulia Oktafiandi, after receiving a fiscal incentive fund symbolically from the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia, expressed his gratitude for the award obtained by the HST Regency Government.

According to him, this award is the result of the local government's hard work in reducing the level of extreme poverty in HST Regency.

"Hopefully this incentive fund will be useful to motivate local governments to reduce the extreme poverty rate in Hulu Sungai Tengah Regency," said Aulia.