Jakarta – The government will not meet its target to reduce the poverty level to 8 to 10 percent by late 2014 unless it implements more appropriate measures, economists say.
Faisal Basri, a political economist from University of Indonesia, said on Thursday that poverty rate in Indonesia would not go down anytime soon due to ineffective government strategies.
"No strong commitment on poverty alleviation has been shown by the government so far," he said, on the sidelines of a discussion on poverty last week.
According to the Central Statistics Agency's (BPS) latest report, the number of Indonesians living in poverty in 2010 was 31.02 million, down from 32.5 million in 2009 and 35 million in 2008.
"Yet, it shows a slower decline than when compared to other developing countries," Faisal said, referring to China, Vietnam and Laos.
The poverty rate, he added, has declined slowly despite the increased state budget dedicated to poverty alleviation.
The government allocated Rp 80.1 trillion (US$9.05 billion) to poverty alleviation programs in 2010, a significant increase over Rp 18 trillion in 2004. The government has provided various forms of cash aid for poor people after it decreased fuel subsidies.
In a 2008 survey, the government found that 17.5 million households were eligible for the Raskin rice for poor households program, Jamkesmas social health insurance and BLT cash aid transfers. More than 60 million people received aid under those programs, assuming that an average household was comprised of four people.
Revrisond Baswir, a political economist from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, said the government was still unable to identify the root causes of poverty. "In fact, the government is continuously carrying out a macroeconomic policy that doesn't support poor people," he said.
For example, he said, the government currently paid Rp 245 trillion in foreign debts every year, which was not in tune with its budget allotments for poverty reduction.
The government allocated Rp 1.55 trillion for the Hope Family Program and would distribute 2.9 million tons of rice to 17.5 million households under the Raskin program in 2011. "We have been misled," Revrisond said. (ebf)