The First Time Since The COVID-19 Pandemic, Jakarta's Poverty Rate Has Fallen To 494 Thousand People

The Directorate General of Housing of the Ministry of PUPR continues the Self-Help Housing Stimulant Assistance Program (BSPS) this year. (Photo: Doc. KemenPUPR)

JAKARTA - The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) of DKI Jakarta Province noted that the number of poor people in Jakarta decreased 0.08 percent from March 2022 to September 2022. Jakarta's poverty reduction is currently the first time this has occurred after a trend of increasing poverty during the COVID-19 pandemic. Head of BPS DKI Jakarta Province, Anggoro Dwitjahyono, explained that Jakarta's poverty rate in the September 2022 period was 4.61 percent of the population or 494.03 people. Meanwhile, in March 2022, the poverty rate was recorded at 502.04 thousand people. "It has been more than two years since the COVID-19 pandemic which has caused the poverty rate to continue to rise, now slowly but surely the poverty rate is starting to decline. The number of poor people has decreased by 7.11 thousand people during the period March - September 2022. The decline in the percentage of poor people from March to September 2022 (0.08 percent) is even higher than the period September 2021 - September 2022 (0.06 percent)," explained Anggoro, Tuesday, January 17. Anggoro said that the reduction in the number of poor people was influenced, among other things, by the improvement in several macroeconomic indicators. In this period, the economy grew 5.94 percent and unemployment decreased by 63 thousand people, and even added 138 thousand new workers. In this condition, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Jakarta economy has gradually begun to decrease in line with the increasing mobility of the community. The Jakarta economy continues to grow and shows a recovery. He explained that the economy of Jakarta in the third quarter of 2022 grew 5.94 percent compared to 2021. Household Consumption Expenditure (PKRT) as a component with the largest contribution grew 7.75 percent. "In fact, in terms of business opportunities, almost all business fields grow positively. The increase in community activities and mobility clearly encourages the economy in Jakarta to continue to grow," he said. In line with the reduction in poverty, for the first time in the last two years since the COVID-19 pandemic, the level of inequality in Jakarta has also decreased. This means, continued Anggoro, the gap between population income in the lower and upper class is getting smaller. The inequality rate in this period was 0.412 or down 0.011 percentage point compared to the conditions in March 2022. In this period, the distribution of the population in the expenditure group was 40 percent, up 0.39 percentage point to 16.99 percent compared to the March 2022 period. "The decline in in inequality in the September 2022 period is also accompanied by a decrease in the depth index and severity of poverty. This is a signal of improving the level of welfare of the population in the long term," explained Anggoro.