The Head of Indonesia’s Central Statistics Bureau (BPS), Suhariyanto indicated on Monday, that Indonesia has slashed poverty ratio to 9.41 per cent in March, significantly lower than the 9.66 per cent recorded in September 2018.

Suhariyanto said total poverty number in Indonesia stood at 25.14 million as of March this year, from the total population of around 267 million, with the latest poverty ratio figure.

“This is an exciting trend.

“The poverty reduction has gone significantly,’’ Suhariyanto said in his office, adding that the ratio decrease persisted in urban and rural areas.

The significant poverty reduction throughout the period was highly contributed by government’s various social assistance programmes formed in the distributions of smart card and health card.

Also read:  Car accident kills 8 in southern Azerbaijan

This is coupled with direct cash and rice allowances for the poor people, he added.

Detailing further, Suhariyanto said the poverty figure in urban areas has also dropped to 6.69 per cent in March from 6.89 per cent in September last year.

In rural areas, the poverty ratio in March stood at 12.85 per cent, lower than 13.10 per cent recorded in September 2018, he added.

Authorities presently consider Nigeria, with a lower population of about 200 million, as the poverty capital of the world.