By Mohd Iswandi Kasan Anuar
JAKARTA, Oct 4 (Bernama) -- Indonesia’s Presidential Staff Office (KSP) has acknowledged a decline in the country’s middle class but assures that this trend has not led to an increase in poverty levels.
During a national seminar entitled “Evaluating One Decade of Jokowi’s Administration” KSP Deputy III for Economic Affairs, Edy Priyono, acknowledged the contraction of the middle class but emphasised that they have not fallen into poverty.
“If they had, we would have seen a rise in the poverty rate, but that hasn’t happened,” he stated, as quoted by Kompas (an Indonesian daily newspaper), while discussing a recent Central Statistics Agency (BPS) report.
According to the report, about 9.48 million people have moved out of the middle class in the last five years, leaving 47.85 million people in the middle class, or 17.13 per cent of the population.
Edy highlighted BPS data showing that both poverty and inequality have decreased since President Joko Widodo, commonly known as Jokowi, took office in 2014.
The poverty rate has fallen from 11.25 per cent in 2014 to 9.03 per cent currently, while extreme poverty has dropped from 6.18 per cent to just 0.83 per cent.
He also pointed out that economic growth during Jokowi’s administration has been stable, averaging 5.07 per cent annually over the past decade, excluding the pandemic years of 2020-2021.
Edy acknowledged critiques regarding the government’s failure to meet Jokowi’s target of eight per cent economic growth, stating, “That’s just part of his leadership style. He consistently sets ambitious goals.”
Looking ahead, President-elect Prabowo Subianto, who will succeed Jokowi on October 20, has set an even higher target of eight per cent growth.
At the Qatar Economic Forum in May, Prabowo expressed optimism about achieving this goal within the first two to three years of his administration, with a particular focus on food security.
Edy commented, “Mr Prabowo has set an even higher target of eight per cent. Perhaps he is thinking along those lines too; I’m not sure.”
-- BERNAMA
