Poverty Rate Declined in March, Central Statistics Agency Reports

TheIndonesia.id - Indonesia’s Central Statistics Agency (BPS) has reported that poverty rate in the country declined to 9.54 percent in March 2022 and cited the economic recovery program as one of the main driving factors.

According to BPS, the rate in March dropped by 0.17 percent and 0.60 percent compared to the figure in September and March 2021, respectively.

“Economic recovery in the first quarter of 2022 impacted the declining poverty rate,” head of BPS Margo Yuwono said on Friday, July 15, as reported by Antara.

According to the Agency, the number of citizens who live in poverty in March this year was recorded at 26.16 million people, or decreasing by 340,000 compared to September 2021 and 1.3 million compared to May 2021.

In September 2021, the poverty rate was at 9.71 percent with 26.5 million Indonesians lived in poverty.

Despite the positive report, Yuwono said Indonesia’s poverty rate has yet to return to pre-pandemic level which was at 9.41 percent in March 2019 and 9.22 percent in September 2019.

Furthermore, BPS also reported that poverty reduction is happening faster in rural than in urban areas.

“The government’s efforts to build from villages result in improvement from time to time because poverty is declining faster in rural compared to urban areas,” Yuwono.

In March 2022, poverty rate in urban areas declined from 7.60 percent to 7.50 percent while in rural areas the figure declined from 12.53 percent to 12.29 percent.

However, the head of BPS also reminded that poverty in rural areas in Indonesia remains significantly higher than in urban areas.