Recipients of the government's Family Hope Program (PKH) in Palopo, South Sulawesi Province, were thankful to President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Social Affairs Minister Juliari P. Batubara for the PKH staple-food packages and cash.
One of the recipients, Suriani, a resident of the Salo Bulo neighborhood in Wara Utara Sub-district, remarked here on Saturday that the PKH package and cash had enabled her husband and her to meet their children’s requirements for school kits and nourishment.
Suriani told ANTARA that her husband was a construction worker, and the couple were bringing up their children in a rented wooden house. In the wake of the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic, her husband was out of work.
Akin to several other PKH recipients, Suriani acknowledged having received Rp1,200,000 in cash and a package of staple foods.
Suriani expressed hope that the government would also provide financial assistance for her small-scale cake business.
The Indonesian government has been working ceaselessly to lower the poverty rate and inequality in the country over the past years through endeavors, such as the PKH, non-cash food assistance program (BPNT), and Indonesian Health Cards (KIS).
Under the medium-term national development plan (RPJMN) 2020-2024, the government has set a target of lowering the number of poor by up to 6.5-7 percent to 19.75-18.34 million by the end of 2024.
In early 2019, the government had also targeted reducing the country's poverty rate to the level of 8.5 to 9.5 percent.
To achieve the target, the government has focused on strengthening its social aid services for appropriate and eligible recipients, specifically those on the extreme poverty list.
The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) stated that Indonesia's poverty rate had reached 9.82 percent in March 2018 but it reduced to 9.66 percent in September 2018.
As of September 2018, Indonesia was home to 25.67 million poor, with the total figure decreasing by some 0.28 million people from that of March 2018 and some 0.91 million people than that of September 2017.
However, Indonesian Vice President Ma'ruf Amin has forecast an increase in the country's poverty rate amid the COVID-19 pandemic as policies to thwart the spread of the virus had led to job losses.
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