BPS: Cigarettes are Second Highest Contributor to Poverty
2 July 2013 16:18 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Statistics Indonesia (BPS) claimed that the filtered clove-cigarettes are the second most-influential commodity that contributes to poverty rate. BPS data suggested that cigarette consumption has affected the poverty line by 8.82 percent in the cities and 7.48 percent in the villages.
"This is sad; cigarettes have become the second largest aspect that caused poverty,” said Suryamin at the BPS office on Monday, July 1.
Cigarettes become the only non food item in the list of commodities that impact the poverty rates. Cigarettes are second only to rice, which affected the poverty line by 25.86 percent in the cities and 33.97 percent in the villages.
Other commodities include eggs, instant noodles, ground sugar, tempeh, shallots, chicken meat and bean curds.
Suryamin also said that the number of urban poor reached 10.33 million in March 2013, slightly lower than in September last year's 10.51 million people.
In the villages, the number of poor amounted to 17.74 million people in March, dropping from September 2012's 18.08 million people.
ANGGA SUKMA WIJAYA