Jakarta, Oct 19 (Antara) - The government's Family of Hope Program (PKH), a social protection program that provides cash assistance to the very poor families, is expected to help the government achieve its target of lowering poverty rate by 7-8 percent.
Hence, the government has set a target to cover 10 million beneficiary families under the PKH program in 2018, so that its efforts to cut poverty rate would be successful.
Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa stated that the PKH was found to be the most effective program, compared to other social assistance and subsidies, as it contributed to a reduction of poverty rates by 0.15 percent.
"Of all social and subsidy assistances in Indonesia, PKH is considered to be the most effective in reducing poverty rates," Khofifah pointed out in a press conference to mark three years of the government of President Joko Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla in her office in Jakarta on Thursday.
In addition, the effectiveness of the PKH is not different from the roles of guiders and coordinators who assist and guide the PKH beneficiaries (KPM).
According to her, out of all assistances and subsidies, only PKH has guiders recruited specifically by the Ministry of Social Affairs.
Up to 2016, the number of PKH guiders was 22,855 people, supported by 435 coordinators and 1,741 PKH operators in districts/cities, 88 provincial operators, and 55 regional coordinators.
Every month, KPM and PKH's guiders organize a meeting of family capacity building in order to understand the importance of basic health services and balanced nutrition, access to education, financial management education, and productive economic growth.
KPH's beneficiary (KPM) mothers are also provided with education for child care and protection, as well as care and fulfillment of the basic needs of the elderly and persons with disabilities.
She noted that the effectiveness of the program was based on the assessment of the Fiscal Policy Board of the National Socio Economic Survey (Susenas) 2014-2015.
There are even social assistance and government-subsidized subsidies that are beneficial to only the financially capable. This is at least not lowering the gini ratio, namely the fuel oil (BBM) subsidies.
Khofifah explained that in 2015, the percentage of poverty declined by 0.06 percent, though qualitatively, it increased by 2.6 thousand persons from the population growth of five million.
She further said that although PKH's budget was smaller than social and other subsidies, yet it had the greatest impact on the decline in inequality and poverty rates.
In March 2017, the number of people living under the poverty line was recorded at 27.77 million (10.64 percent of the 261 million population ), or increase by 6.90 thousand people compared with those in September 2016 which were 27.76 million (10.70 percent).
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said early this month that he would raise the budget for programs that were linked to alleviate poverty. "I want the 2018 state budget to be focused on efforts to overcome problems related to poverty. Budget for this should be increased," the president said in a cabinet plenary session at the State Palace.
In addition, he noted that it should also focus on efforts to overcome problems on unemployment and economic inequality. "This will link to investment. I think we will start with issues on social debt and establishment of micro endowment bank in October," he remarked.
In his address last August, the president stated that the government will take maximum efforts to lower the national poverty rate more quickly by launching innovative programs aimed at eradicating poverty and providing social protection.
The gap between the rich and the poor shows a downward trend as could be seen from the Gini ratio index, which decreased to 0.393 in March 2017 from 0.408 in March 2015, he said.
The unemployment rate also fell to 5.33 percent in Feb 2017 from 5.61 percent in Feb 2015, he noted.
In the meantime, National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Head Bambang Brodjonegoro stated that efforts to reduce inequality and poverty must be carried out systematically and in an integrated manner to achieve inclusive sustainable growth.
Speaking at the opening of the Indonesia Development Forum (IDF) 2017 in Jakarta recently, he said adjustments to approaches and programs as well as the development of policies based on knowledge and research will optimize the impact of the government's efforts to reduce inequality.
According to Brodjonegoro, quality economic growth must benefit the people through creating jobs, increasing population productivity, applying pro-poor policies, and increasing competitiveness of micro, small, and medium enterprises.
He said optimizing the utilization of village fund and its allocation aims to solve various poverty-related issues at the local level, with focus on improving access and quality of basic services and developing productive economic enterprises in low-income communities.
"In general, four main factors are driving inequality in the present and future generations, such as inequality in opportunities since birth that affects the quality of human resources, job inequality, and wealth concentrated in the hands of a group of people," Brodjonegoro explained.***4***(A014/INE)EDITED BY INE
(T.A014/A/BESSR/A. Abdussalam) 19-10-2017 21:52:3 |
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