Indonesia aims to eradicate extreme poverty by 2026

JAKARTA, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia aims to eradicate extreme poverty by 2026, accelerating efforts to meet this target, Coordinating Minister for Community Empowerment Abdul Muhaimin Iskandar said on Friday.

"We have held meetings with ministries and agencies to discuss ways to accelerate poverty and extreme poverty alleviation. The meeting follows up on the president's instruction to reduce extreme poverty to zero percent by 2026 at the latest," Iskandar told reporters in Jakarta.

He noted that the number of people classified as poor in Indonesia currently stands at 24.8 million, or 8.7 percent of the total population. The government aims to lower the poverty rate to 4.5 percent by 2029.

One of the key strategies to achieve this goal, he said, is ensuring that recipients of government programs, such as social assistance and housing subsidies, are accurately targeted.

"Hopefully, our poverty rate will decline even further," Iskandar added. ■