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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Subsidi listrik Indonesia mungkin melebihi Rp 38,39 triliun yang dialokasikan pada Anggaran Pendapatan dan Belanja Negara (APBN) 2016 karena mungkin ada lebih banyak konsumen yang berhak mendapatkan subsidi listrik dari perkiraan sebelumnya. Bulan lalu, Pemerintah Indonesia dan Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR) setuju memotong subsidi listrik untuk rumahtangga yang menggunakan 450 VA dan 900 VA, per 1 Januari 2016, dengan memutuskan jaringan listrik untuk mereka yang saat ini menikmati tarif listrik murah kendati mereka tidak termasuk klasifikasi 'miskin' atau 'hampir miskin' dan karenanya tidak layak mendapatkan subsidi listrik.

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Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS) mengatakan rencana Pemerintah untuk memotong subsidi listrik untuk rumahtangga-rumahtangga penguna listrik 450 VA dan 900 VA (per 1 Januari 2016) mungkin akan menyebabkan kenaikan angka inflasi dan kemiskinan. Memotong jumlah subsidi listrik adalah bagian dari usaha Pemerintah untuk mengurangi subsidi energi yang mahal dan mengarahkan kembali dananya pada investasi produktif (contohnya program pembangunan infrastruktur atau kesejahteraan sosial). Terlebih lagi, lebih dari 20 juta penduduk Indonesia menikmati listrik subsidi, sementara mereka tidak diklasifikasikan sebagai (hampir) miskin.

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Credit rating agency Standards & Poor's (S&P) says Indonesia (and Malaysia) need to increase efforts to build a good track record of timely and reasonable power tariffs adjustments in order to ensure decent returns for investors and recover their costs. Delays in energy price revisions, which are sometimes the result of political strategy, are the key risk that jeopardize the financial stability (and credit profile) of state-owned utility company Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN). S&P therefore advises the Indonesian government to enhance efforts to ensure a sound regulatory framework (i.e. a transparent tariff rate-setting mechanism).

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Populasi penduduk Indonesia, yang berjumlah lebih dari 255 juta orang (data tidak resmi), bertumbuh dalam laju yang menguatirkan menurut Surya Chandra Surapaty, Kepala Badan Kependudukan dan Keluarga Berencana Nasional (BKKBN). Saat ini, persentase pertumbuhan rata-rata penduduk Indonesia setiap tahunnya mencapai 1,49%. Ini berarti bahwa setiap tahunnya penduduk Indonesia bertambah 4,5 juta orang (hampir sama dengan jumlah penduduk Singapura).

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When visiting Indonesia for the first time as World Bank Vice President for the East Asia and Pacific, Victoria Kwakwa stated that the World Bank is committed to support Indonesia’s efforts to achieve higher economic growth and greater prosperity for its +250 million people. During her visit, Kwakwa met various government officials and stakeholders, including Vice President Jusuf Kalla, Chief Economics Minister Darmin Nasution, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, as well as representatives from civil society, opinion leaders, analysts and the private sector.

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Although the government of Indonesia aims to lower the country's Gini coefficient to 39 in 2016, there continue to be more reports that see income inequality in Indonesia widening rather than declining. For example, a recent World Bank report notes that Indonesia's Gini coefficient rose from 30 in 2000 to 41 in 2015 (a reading of 0 represents perfect equality, while a reading of 100 represents perfect inequality). This rising trend will continue if the government fails to tackle this issue.

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On Monday (04/01) Indonesia's Statistics Agency (BPS) announced that the number of Indonesian people living below the poverty line stood at 28.51 million people in September 2015, or 11.13 percent of the total Indonesian population. Compared to March 2015 the number of Indonesians living below the poverty line fell by 80,000 people. However, compared to September 2014 the number rose by 78,000 people. BPS releases poverty figures twice per year covering the months March and September.

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The World Bank says income inequality in Indonesia is widening and as a consequence the fruits of Indonesia's economic growth over the past decade have only been enjoyed by the richest 20 percent of Indonesian society, leaving behind the remaining 80 percent of the population (or 200 million people). In its new report titled "Indonesia's Rising Divide" the World Bank states that rising inequality in society can jeopardize social cohesion, as well as political and economic stability over the long term. The report claims that inequality in Indonesia has reached a relatively high level and is climbing faster than in most of its regional peers.

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Indonesia's Ministry of National Development Planning (Bappenas) wants to see declining unemployment and poverty rates in 2016 as economic growth improves in Southeast Asia's largest economy. Bappenas official Bambang Prijambodo said accelerated infrastructure development in the second half of 2015 and 2016 should manage to create more employment opportunities. Furthermore, the recent series of economic stimulus packages released by the Indonesian government aims to improve the country's investment climate and therefore should trigger more private investment.

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Indonesia needs to prepare for higher electricity tariffs as the government and House of Representatives (DPR) agreed on cutting electricity subsidies for 450 VA and 900 VA households starting from 1 January 2016. Indonesian authorities only want to provide electricity subsidies to the 24.7 million poorest Indonesian households. However, currently around 45.4 million Indonesians have connections of 450 VA and 900 VA.

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Jumlah orang miskin di Indonesia meningkat. Menurut data terakhir dari Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS), yang diterbitkan hari ini (15/09), ada 28,59 juta orang miskin di Indonesia pada bulan Maret 2015, setara dengan 11,22% dari total penduduk Indonesia. Pada September 2014 persentase penduduk miskin di Indonesia mencapai 10,96% dari penduduk Indonesia, atau 27,73 juta orang. Maka dalam jangka waktu 5 bulan, jumlah penduduk miskin Indonesia naik sebesar 860.000 orang. BPS menerbitkan data dari persentase kemiskinan negara ini dua kali setiap tahunnya yaitu pada bulan Maret dan bulan September.

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Program Bantuan Operasional Sekolah (BOS) telah beroperasi selama satu dekade. Selama periode ini, program BOS terus menerus diperbaiki dan mengalirkan pendanaan yang besar untuk kira-kira 43 juta sekolah dasar dan sekolah menengah pertama di Indonesia. Program BOS yang berdana besar bertujuan untuk memastikan bahwa sekolah memiliki cukup dana untuk beroperasi, mengurangi biaya pendidikan yang dibayar rumah tangga dan memperbaiki manajemen berbasis sekolah.

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A new World Bank report, entitled “The Double Burden of Malnutrition in Indonesia”, says that 37.2 percent of Indonesian children under the age of five - or 8.4 million children - are stunted (meaning excessively small for their age) and suffer from chronic malnutrition. As such, Indonesia has the fifth-highest level of stunting in the world. The report also states that 19.6 percent of Indonesian children under five years old (approximately 4.4 million) are underweight as a result of malnutrition. Public awareness about this issue is low in Indonesia.

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One of the ambitious targets of the Indonesian government is the realization of the “One Million Houses Program”. Through this program - scheduled to be launched on 30 April 2015 in Central Java by President Joko Widodo - the government aims to provide adequate housing facilities to low income citizens. Over half of these houses will be built using funds from the country’s state budget. State funds will also be used to finance the Housing Loan Liquidity Facility, government-backed mortgages for low-income people.

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