TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The government was striving to reduce the poverty rate to around 9.2 to 9.7 percent in 2021, said National Development Planning Minister or Bappenas Head Suharso Monoarfa.

“The government's work plan for 2021 is to accelerate economic recovery and social reform, in which the indicator is reducing the poverty level to 9.2 percent,” said Suharso on Monday, Dec. 28, 2020.

Suharso added that the Gini ratio, which reflects inequality, would also be suppressed in the range of 0.377 to 0.379 next year. Statistics Indonesia (BPS) recorded that the poor level rose to 9.78 percent in March 2020 in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The number of poor people amounted to 26.42 million people, an increase of 1.63 million people from that of in September 2019 and a hike of 1.28 million people compared to the figure in March 2019.

Throughout 2020, Suharso went on, Indonesia was dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic which is certainly a challenge for the Indonesian economy.

However, he added, the government carried out good responses and policies which was proven from the drop in economic contraction in the third quarter of 2020 to 3.49 percent from 5.32 percent in the second quarter of 2020.

“Hopefully, [the economic growth] in the fourth quarter of 2020 will get better. This indicates that the government makes proper responses,” he said.

Also Read: Indonesian Poverty Rate to Touch 11.5 Percent amid COVID-19: VP

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