[Kabar-indonesia] Four million added to Indonesia's poor

[Joyo at aol.com]

Four million added to Indonesia's poor

JAKARTA, September 3 (AFP) -- Almost four million
Indonesians have slipped below the poverty line in the
last year, a government survey found.

The number of Indonesians joining the ranks of the
poor grew by 3.95 million since February 2005,
bringing the total to 39.05 million out of a
population of 220 million, according to the
government, reported local paper Korantempo.

An Indonesian earning less than rupiah 152,847
(US$16.80) a month was classified as poor, said the
Central Statistics Agency (BPS), which carried out the
survey.

In addition to 39 million poor, or 17 percent of the
population, another 30.9 percent live just above the
poverty line, said the BPS.

Rusman Heriawan, the head of the agency, blamed the
rising cost of basic foods, which have increased by as
much as 30 percent in a year, for the higher poverty
levels.

Many Indonesians have complained that last year's hike
in the price of government-subsidised fuel, and
cooking gas, caused the cost of basic foodstuffs to
rise.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was elected by an
overwhelming majority of Indonesians in 2004, on
promises he would reduce unemployment from 9.5 percent
to 5.1 percent, halve poverty to 8.2 percent of the
population and achieve annual economic growth of 6.6
percent in five years.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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