Sita W. Dewi, Jakarta – Despite various social welfare programs introduced by Joko "Jokowi" Widodo during his nearly two years as governor, the number of Jakarta residents living in poverty has not declined.

During a presentation attended by the City Council on Monday, Jokowi unveiled the 2013 city working report, highlighting several development indicators in the capital.

The governor cited that the number of poor people in Jakarta had slightly increased to 375,700 or 3.72 percent of the total population in September 2013 from 366,770 people or 3.7 percent of the total population in September 2012.

"The number of poor people was influenced by [change in] the poverty line. Keeping with inflation, the poverty line in Jakarta increased from Rp 392,571 [US$34] per capita in 2012 to Rp 434,322 per capita in 2013," Jokowi said.

He also pointed out an increase in the capital's human development index, which went up to 78.33 in 2012 from 78 in 2011, and was higher than the national score of 73.29.

Jakarta's gross domestic product (GDP) also increased to Rp 1.25 trillion in 2013 from Rp 1.1 trillion the previous year, or up by 13.79 percent. Meanwhile, Jakarta's GDP per capita increased to Rp 126.12 million in 2013 or up by 12.7 percent compared to Rp 111.91 million in 2012.

Jakarta saw economic growth of 6.11 percent in 2013, down from 6.53 percent in 2012, but higher than national growth of 5.7 percent for 2013.

Councilor Prasetyo Edi Marsudi pointed out that unequal opportunities were widening social and financial gaps in the capital.

"Even though job opportunities in Jakarta are relatively better than in other cities, most people working in Jakarta are from outside the city. If we did a simple survey, taking 10 parking attendants as a sample, I believe most of them would be from outside the capital," he said after the plenary session.

University of Indonesia public policy expert Agus Pambagio said that failure to reduce poverty in the capital was not the city administration's responsibility alone.

"It's not the city administration's fault. The central government partly shares the blame. Poverty in big cities like Jakarta is triggered by urbanization, because there is a constant flow of new residents coming to the city in the hope of getting a better life. National economic growth stood at below 6 percent – it could hardly create job opportunities," Agus said.

Jokowi's administration had poured a significant amount of funds into financing social welfare programs, including the Jakarta Smart Card (KJP) and Jakarta Health Card (KJS) programs, which aim to provide financial assistance for students and for poor patients.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/04/22/poverty-rises-despite-social-programs.html