Airlangga Hartarto Distributes Cash Aid For Street Vendors And Stall Owners In Yogyakarta

Coordinating Minister Airlangga provides assistance to street vendors and shop owners/Photo: Antara

YOGYAKARTA - The government continues to accelerate the reduction of extreme poverty in Indonesia. Based on the official website of the National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction, extreme poverty is defined as a condition of community welfare below the extreme poverty line or equivalent to USD 1.9 PPP (purchasing power parity).

Extreme poverty is measured using an "absolute poverty measure" which is consistent across countries and across time.

To that end, the Government will continue the Cash Assistance for Street Vendors and Stall Owners (BT-PKLW) in 2022 with an expanded target of beneficiaries by adding fishermen and implemented in 212 districts/cities in 25 provinces, of which 147 regencies/cities of which are located in coastal areas.

In 2022, the BT-PKLWN Program will be given to 2.76 million recipients consisting of 1 million street vendors and shop owners, as well as 1.76 million fishermen.

Specifically for fishermen, the criteria for getting assistance are marine and fishery business actors who are labor fishermen, fishing fishermen without ships, or fishermen who own ships less than 5 GT (gross tonnage).

The General Chair of the Golkar Party, Airlangga Hartarto, went directly to distribute BT-PKLWN to representatives of beneficiaries in the Maguwoharjo Stadium Area, Sleman, Yogyakarta.

The distribution of BT-PKLWN in Sleman has a target of 6,000 recipients and this number has increased compared to 2021 which reached 3,000 recipients.

"Thank you to the recipients of cash assistance from stalls and street vendors. Earlier I asked the representatives of the recipients of this assistance, it turned out that the representatives had never received social assistance. Therefore, what the Yogyakarta Police has done is right on target," said Coordinating Minister Airlangga in a statement received by VOI, Friday, March 18.

In addition to being aimed at alleviating extreme poverty, BT-PKLWN is also carried out by the Government to encourage purchasing power, business continuity, and the livelihoods of micro-enterprise communities (PKL, shop owners, and fishermen) in the context of handling Covid-19 and national economic recovery.

"Hopefully this assistance can be put to good use. I also monitor, almost all recipients will use this assistance for business capital," said Coordinating Minister Airlangga.

On the occasion, Coordinating Minister Airlangga also said that BT-PKLWN is part of the program to reduce extreme poverty in Indonesia, and extreme poverty is expected to approach 0% in 2024.

Coordinating Minister Airlangga thanked the Yogyakarta Police and the Sleman Police for synergizing with the Government to distribute PKLWN cash assistance today.

“The TNI and Polri are at the forefront to determine the success of this government program. It is hoped that the entire process will continue to be carried out as carefully as it has been so far, so that this is truly given to people in need," concluded Coordinating Minister Airlangga.

Also present on the occasion were Members of the Indonesian House of Representatives, the Secretary of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, Representatives of the DIY Provincial Police, Representatives of the Sleman Regional Government, the Sleman Police Chief, and the Sleman Kodim Commander.