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Today's Headlines Poverty
On Wednesday (03/06/2020) Indonesia Investments released the May 2020 edition of its monthly report. In this edition, titled 'in the Eye of the Storm', we focus specifically on the social implications of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis on Indonesian society. Hence, unemployment and poverty are two topics that deserve specific attention.
On Monday (06/08) Indonesia Investments released the July 2018 edition of its monthly research report. The report aims to inform the reader of the key political, economic and social developments that occurred in Indonesia in the month of July 2018 and also touches upon key international developments that impacted on the Indonesian economy.
The emergence of a money flow in the context of the government's Family Hope Program (in Indonesian: Program Keluarga Harapan, or PKH), a cash transfer program for the nation's poorest households, is hoped to boost household consumption in Indonesia in 2018. In February 2018 the first phase of this year's PKH program will be conducted.
The Indonesian government aims to provide affordable housing for the nation's poorer (low-income) households through the One Million Houses program, a program that was launched in mid-2015 by Indonesian President Joko Widodo. However, property developers complain that in most regions it is tough to obtain all necessary permits to construct the houses.
So far this year Indonesia's "One Million Houses Program" is well on its way. Based on information from Indonesia's Public Works and Housing Ministry a total of 499,702 houses were constructed under the program in the first half of 2017, achieving 49.9 percent of the full-year target.
Based on the latest data from Indonesia's Statistics Agency (BPS), released on Monday (17/07), Indonesia's absolute poverty rose to 27.77 million people in March 2017 (from 27.76 million in September 2016). However, the country's relative poverty figure fell to 10.64 percent of the population in March 2017 (from 10.70 percent in September 2016). This seeming paradox - rising absolute poverty but falling relative poverty - is caused by Indonesia's growing population. The Indonesian population now numbers about 261 million people.
A recent report released by Oxfam, a global aid and development charity, highlights the alarming level of income distribution inequality in Indonesia. According to the findings of this report, the four wealthiest Indonesians (combined) have more assets compared to the 100 million poorest Indonesians (combined). Indonesia's top four billionaires are worth USD $25 billion, which is approximately the same combined amount owned by the bottom 40 percent of the Indonesian population.
In order to escape the middle income trap (and become a high income country), the government of Indonesia needs to raise efforts to enhance the development of an inclusive economy by reforming the education and technology sectors as well as by combating social injustice. With a "business as usual" approach the government will not succeed in escaping this trap, says economist Faisal Basri. Indonesian society is currently highly unfair as 1 percent of the population controls 50.3 percent of the nation's total assets.
Indonesia's Public Works & Housing is hopeful that the government's One Million Houses program will be more successful in 2017 supported by the 13th economic policy package that aims to ease red tape surrounding the construction of low-cost housing for the poorer segments of Indonesian society as well as high demand for property due to improving purchasing power amid low inflation and accelerating economic growth.
Earlier this week the government of Indonesia released its 13th economic policy package. This 13th edition focuses on the reduction of bureaucracy (red tape) in a bid to boost the construction of low-cost housing for the poorer segments of Indonesian society. Currently, property developers are required to obtain 33 permits before they can start to build affordable housing for the low-income people of Indonesia. This results in a costly and time-consuming process.
Latest Columns Poverty
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The number of poor people in Indonesia rose. According to the latest data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), released today (15/09), there were 28.59 million poor people in Indonesia in March 2015, equivalent to 11.22 percent of the total Indonesian population. In September 2014 Indonesia’s poverty rate stood at 10.96 percent of the Indonesian population, or 27.73 million people. Thus within a time-span of six months, the number of poor Indonesians rose by around 860,000 people. BPS releases data on the country’s poverty level twice per year covering the months March and September.
The Indonesian school grants program (Bantuan Operasional Sekolah, or BOS) is nearing the end of its first decade of operation. Over that period, the BOS program has been continually improved and channeled large amounts of funding directly to approximately 43 million primary and junior secondary schools across Indonesia. The huge BOS program aims to ensure that schools have sufficient funds to operate, reduce the education costs faced by households and improve school based management.
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.
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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