Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, Acting Head of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), reported that the level of extreme poverty in all provinces in Indonesia continues to decrease. In fact, as many as 18 provinces or 53 percent of the total provinces have reached the level of extreme poverty approaching zero percent.

"We can convey that some provinces with the fastest decline in extreme poverty in the Sumatra region are South Sumatra Province, in Kalimantan it is East Kalimantan, in Java it is DIY, in Sulawesi it is West Sulawesi, in Maluku and Papua it is Papua Province, and in Bali and Nusa Tenggara it is East Nusa Tenggara Province," said Amalia during the National Coordination Meeting and Fiscal Incentive Handover for the Ongoing Year for the Performance Category of Extreme Poverty Eradication in 2023 at the Vice Presidential Palace, Central Jakarta, Thursday (9/11/2023).

Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the overall poverty rate in Indonesia is still around 9.36 percent as of March 2023, or about 25.90 million people. Meanwhile, the rate of extreme poverty in March 2023 is at 1.12 percent, a decrease compared to March 2022 which was around 2.04 percent.

Vice President KH Ma'ruf Amin hopes that the consistency of all regional leaders remains intact. Especially in implementing strategies to reduce the burden of public expenditure, increase sustainable income for groups of extremely poor communities, and decrease the number of poverty pockets.

Kiai Ma'ruf mentioned various concrete steps to achieve the target of extreme poverty eradication that have been implemented, including refining the target beneficiaries through the development of P3KE data. In addition, the convergence of programs and budgets for the eradication of extreme poverty is also carried out, including adjustments to the state budget, regional budgets, and village budgets.

He assesses that the homework to be done is to maintain the downward trend until the target of zero percent extreme poverty can be achieved. According to him, this effort can only be realized through collaboration and hard work from all stakeholders.

"Of course, the active performance of all regional heads is an absolute prerequisite for achieving the target of reducing extreme poverty," he concluded.