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BONSERNEWS.com – Member of Commission VII DPR, Sartono Hutomo, urged the Government to increase the budget allocation for the 3 Kg LPG subsidy. The reason, said Sartono, is that 3 kg LPG is needed by the poor and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
Sartono also admitted that he was worried that if the budget allocation for the 3Kg LPG subsidy was not increased, it would only increase the poverty level of the Indonesian people.
“Melon gas is synonymous with the needs of the poor and MSMEs now the number of poor people is increasing. So the government should also increase the subsidy budget allocation for melon gas,” said Sartono, Tuesday 25 July 2023.
According to him, so far many of the Government’s priority programs have actually not intersected with the interests of the common people.
“In fact, policies should be made that reflect the interests of the people, not the interests of the oligarchs. Now building infrastructure can the poor really enjoy it? It’s not,” he sneered.
This Democratic Party politician emphasized that increasing the budget for gas melons must be a priority at the end of this power. Sartono emphasized that the existence of 3 Kg LPG helps drive the people’s economy.
“Don’t let power leave endless suffering. It’s time to reduce poverty as it is a government program to reduce it to zero percent in 2024,” he concluded.
It is known, Indonesia’s poverty rate has decreased. But ironically, the gap between the rich and the poor has actually increased, even beyond the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
From BPS records, the level of inequality based on the Gini ratio in rural and urban areas has increased from the previous 0.381, now it has increased to 0.388. Inequality is felt in urban areas because the gini ratio increased from 0.402 to 0.409.
Meanwhile, inequality in villages has been stagnant and has trended downward since September 2019. As of March 2023, this inequality was recorded as the worst in the last five years. The reason is that in March 2018, the gini ratio had touched 0.389, then the trend was down.
In fact, the Gini ratio as of March was 0.388, which was actually higher than during the peak of the pandemic last September 2020, which was only 0.385. According to BPS, inequality has increased because the spending rate of the richest group has increased faster than that of the lower-middle class
The Central Bureau of Statistics recorded that the number of poor people in Indonesia in March 2023 was 25.9 million people or 9.36% of Indonesia’s population. This number decreased by 460 thousand people from September 2022. ()