Gov’t Poised to Tackle Extreme Poverty in Coastal Areas by 2022

Vice President Ma’ruf Amin delivers press statement after leading a meeting on tackling extreme poverty in coastal areas, Tuesday (21/12) in Jakarta. (Photo: BPMI)

The Government has announced it has made efforts to tackle extreme poverty in 35 priority regencies in seven provinces, 24 of which are located in coastal areas.

In 2022, the Government said it is set to expand the coverage of the poverty alleviation program in 212 regencies / cities in 25 provinces with 147 regencies / cities being located in coastal areas.

“In 2022, we aim to tackle extreme poverty in 212 regencies / cities. It turns out that in those 212 regencies and cities, 147 of them or 69.34 percent are in coastal areas,” said Vice President Ma’ruf Amin in a meeting on tackling extreme poverty in coastal areas, Tuesday (21/12) in Jakarta.

Of the 147 regencies / cities in coastal areas, Ma’ruf continued, there are around 1.3 million extreme poor people or 12.48 percent of the total extreme poor population in Indonesia that reaches 10.86 million people.

“We will adopt various measures to overcome the issue,” Ma’ruf said.

In addition, he emphasized sthat the Government has paid close attention in measures to reduce poverty in coastal areas, adding that based on data from Ministry of Finance, the 2021 cross-ministerial budget for various productivity improvement and empowerment programs in coastal areas reached more than Rp76 trillion.

“In 2021 we had additional social assistance for staple food, direct cash assistance, and direct cash village assistance in 35 regencies / cities in seven priority provinces, of which 24 regencies located in coastal areas,” he explained.

The Vice President went on to say that the extreme poverty reduction program in coastal areas in 2022 will be carried out with a focus on empowerment the communities and increasing their income.

“Adding social assistance to reduce the burden on the extreme poor, increasing access to basic services, regional connectivity, and collaboration are required to minimize poverty,” he remarked. (Vice Presidential Office/UN) (EST/EP)