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Latest Reports Poverty
Indonesia's Public Works & Housing is hopeful that the government's One Million Houses program will be more successful in 2017 supported by the 13th economic policy package that aims to ease red tape surrounding the construction of low-cost housing for the poorer segments of Indonesian society as well as high demand for property due to improving purchasing power amid low inflation and accelerating economic growth.
Earlier this week the government of Indonesia released its 13th economic policy package. This 13th edition focuses on the reduction of bureaucracy (red tape) in a bid to boost the construction of low-cost housing for the poorer segments of Indonesian society. Currently, property developers are required to obtain 33 permits before they can start to build affordable housing for the low-income people of Indonesia. This results in a costly and time-consuming process.
According to the latest data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS) there were 28.01 million Indonesians living below the poverty line in March 2016, or 10.86 percent of the total Indonesian population. This is an improvement from September 2015 when Indonesia's poverty figure stood at 11.13 percent, or 28.51 million in absolute terms. Indonesia's central statistics agency releases the nation's poverty figures twice per year, covering the months March and September.
The government of Indonesia will soon unveil a new economic policy package, the 13th in the series of packages that have been released since September 2015 with as overall aim to boost Indonesia's economic growth. Indonesian Chief Economics Minister Darmin Nasution said the 13th edition, which is currently being discussed among government officials, will focus on residential property for low income families. However, he refrained from providing more details at this stage.
Indonesia's Gini ratio (or Gini coefficient), which measures the degree of inequality in income distribution, improved slightly in September 2015. According to the latest data published by Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the Gini ratio of Indonesia fell from 0.41 in March 2015 to 0.40 in September 2015, indicating that income distribution inequality slightly declined (a coefficient of zero expresses perfect equality, while a reading of 1 implies maximal inequality). The modest improvement occurred in the urban areas of Indonesia where the Gini ratio fell 0.1 point to 0.43. In the rural areas the ratio remained stagnant at 0.33.
Indonesia's Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) appreciates the 11 economic stimulus packages that have been released by the central government since September 2015. However, Kadin regrets to see that the central government does not put the issue of job creation as the basis of any package. Rosan Roeslani, Chairman of Kadin (and whose name was mentioned in the controversial Panama Papers), said all 11 packages answer to the desires of certain groups (such as investors and industries) but unemployment remains untackled.
Indonesian Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman has a strong suspicion that the "rice mafia" is behind the recent fluctuations in rice supply and prices in Indonesia. Suspicion emerged after new rice supplies suddenly 'flooded' Indonesian markets in February when prices of rice had already risen due to the scarcity of supplies. Sulaiman believes there is a cartel consisting of six big Indonesian rice distributors that deliberately hid rice output after last year's harvest and waited for prices to rise significantly before supplying rice to the markets in order to see higher profits.
Sutiyoso, Director of Indonesia's State Intelligence Agency (BIN), said authorities will closely monitor those Indonesians that return home after having joined the militant Islamic State in Syria. It is estimated that more than 100 Indonesians have traveled back to the Archipelago from Syria after having fought alongside the militant organization. Meanwhile, Indonesian policy is investigating a video that has been circulating on social media. This video displays a local terrorist group threatening to attack Indonesia's State Palace and Jakarta Policy headquarters.
Indonesia's electricity subsidies may exceed the IDR 38.39 trillion (approx. USD $2.8 billion) allocated in the 2016 State Budget as there are probably more customers entitled to electricity subsidy than previously estimated. Last month, the Indonesian government and House of Representatives (DPR) agreed on cutting electricity subsidies for 450 VA and 900 VA households, per 1 January 2016, by disconnecting those people that are currently enjoying cheap electricity rates while they are not classified as 'poor' or 'near-poor' and thus do not deserve the subsidized price.
Statistics Indonesia (BPS) said the government's plan to cut electricity subsidies for 450 VA and 900 VA households (per 1 January 2016) is likely to lead to a higher inflation and poverty rate. Cutting the electricity subsidy bill is part of government efforts to reduce costly energy subsidies and redirect these funds to productive investments (for example infrastructure development or social welfare programs). Moreover, more than 20 million Indonesians are enjoying subsidized electricity, while they are not classified as (near) poor.
Latest Columns Poverty
For me, G20 summits were always interesting occasions as the leaders of the world’s strongest economies gather to discuss plans to move forward. This year, however, it was the first time that I was quite reluctant to follow the summit (despite the 2022 edition being organized on the Indonesian island of Bali).
In mid-February 2021, Statistics Indonesia (in Indonesian: Badan Pusat Statistik, or BPS) released its latest poverty statistics. As expected, the data show a worrying rise in poverty across Indonesia, a development that is obviously related to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Governments’ self-imposed social and business restrictions (both at home and abroad), which aim at preventing the further spread of the virus, drag down economic activity in an unprecedented way.
Poverty and inequality are always sensitive topics, especially in an emerging market like Indonesia where poverty and inequality (in terms of income distribution) have always been a big problem. It is something that puzzles Indonesians too. We often hear Indonesians say “our country is so rich in natural resources, so how can it be that we have so much poverty within our borders?”
The economic and social consequences of the COVID-19 crisis are becoming increasingly clear and frightening. All the self-imposed restrictions on business and social behavior, taken by governments across the world, may protect people’s health to a significant extent, but the policy measures also have devastating economic and social consequences as economic activity nosedives, and businesses collapse. This results in unprecedented mass layoffs as well as growing poverty.
According to the latest data from Indonesia’s Central Statistics Agency (BPS), poverty in Indonesia has fallen to a historic low. BPS provides an update on the country’s poverty statistics twice per year, covering the state of poverty in the months of March and September. On 16 July 2018 the agency, which is a non-ministerial government institution, released the March 2018 data. And these data showed a welcome surprise.
Traditionally the Indonesian government wants to raise spending on social assistance programs when legislative and presidential elections are around the corner in an attempt to become more popular, hence attract more votes. The government under the leadership of Joko Widodo also plans to use this strategy.
Poverty in Indonesia declined to the lowest level ever in March 2018 (Indonesia's Central Statistics Agency, or BPS, releases poverty figures twice per year, covering the months March and September). Based on the latest data, Indonesia's relative poverty figure fell to 9.82 percent of the total population. Thus, 25.95 million Indonesians are now categorized as poor.
The World Bank released the latest edition of its flagship publication Indonesia Economic Quarterly on Tuesday (27/03). The March 2018 edition of the report is entitled "Towards Inclusive Growth". In the report the World Bank is positive about Indonesia's economic outlook after seeing the nation's real gross domestic product (GDP) growth picking up at 5.2 percent year-on-year (y/y) in the fourth quarter of 2017 (accelerating from 5.1 percent y/y in the previous quarter).
The Queen of the Netherlands, Maxima, visited Indonesia between 11-13 February 2018 to monitor the progress of Indonesia's Financial Inclusion Program, a program that was launched in August 2016 during Maxima's last visit to Indonesia. Hence, during her latest visit, the Dutch Queen came in her role as the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development.
The number of people who live in poverty in Indonesia fell by 1.19 million individuals, per September 2017, to 26.58 million, from 27.77 million poor people in March 2017 (Indonesia's Statistics Agency releases poverty data twice per year, covering the situation in the months March and September). This is a significant decline and therefore constitutes a very good development. In relative terms, Indonesia's poverty rate fell 0.52 percent from 10.64 percent to 10.12 percent (over the same period).
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