REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, By : Otjih. S*)

President Joko Widodo has said that the poverty level has increased on account of slow economic growth and food-price increases. "I want all policies, all programs in poverty and inequality alleviation to be implemented in an integrated way among Bank Indonesia [BI], the Financial Services Authority [OJK] and the State Logistics Agency [Bulog]," Jokowi said.

He was speaking in a limited Cabinet meeting at the State Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday that specifically discussed poverty alleviation and economic inequality as part of the government’s commitment to addressing poverty and the inequality gap both among Indonesians and regions.

Based on BPS data in September 2015, the number of poor people reached 28.51 million, 11.13 percent of the population. The portion of poor people in urban areas reached 8.2 percent of the total population, while the percentage of poor people in the rural areas was higher at 14.09 percent of the total population.