Widodo confident extreme poverty to drop drastically by 2024
Jakarta, Indonesianpost.com – President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said he is confident that the national poverty rate will undergo a drastic decline by 2024, considering the government has specific data on families who need assistance in emerging from poverty.
He pointed out that extreme poverty eradication is among the many programs that are being pursued during his second term in office. The government is aiming to bring down the extreme poverty rate to zero percent by 2024, the President added.
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“However, we were hindered by COVID-19 (pandemic control) for two and a half years. But I am still confident that in 2024, (the poverty rate) will drastically decline because the names and addresses (of people who need to be assisted) are in (the records),” the head of state said here on Tuesday.
Widodo made the remarks following the third National Work Meeting of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, which was themed “Poor People, Abandoned Children Under State’s Care.”
The President informed that the tools to address extreme poverty comprise the possession of precise data as well as the allocation of a huge budget from the government to meet the goal.
“Not merely big, but very huge. The only thing beyond (that allocation figure) is for infrastructure,” he pointed out.
The combination of the two will support better progress in extreme poverty eradication, he said.
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Widodo further said that those contributing factors need to be backed by collaborative efforts from the central government, ministries, and agencies, as well as regional governments.
“Everything must be (carried out) together. It is not difficult, but indeed, it needs consolidation and needs time,” he added.
According to the head of state, in 2022, the national extreme poverty rate was pegged at 2 percent, with some 14 provinces recording a higher extreme poverty rate compared to the national figure, Widodo added.