TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The number of people living in poverty in South Sumatra, Indonesia, has decreased dramatically over the past six months. According to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) of South Sumatra, the poverty rate in March 2025 stood at 10.15 percent, down from 10.51 percent in September 2024.

This decrease of 0.36 percent is equivalent to more than 29,000 people who have successfully escaped the poverty line. Head of BPS South Sumatra, Moh. Wahyu Yulianto described this achievement as something to be appreciated.

"Usually, local governments aim for poverty rates to be in single digits, below 10 percent. But this is already close. We all know that reducing the poverty rate requires significant effort and budget. Achieving a decrease of 29 thousand is quite fantastic," said Wahyu during a press conference on Friday, July 25, 2025.

BPS recorded the poverty line in South Sumatra in March 2025 at Rp581,702 per capita per month. Of this amount, food commodities contributed Rp436,639 per capita, accounting for about 75.06 percent. Meanwhile, non-food commodities contributed Rp145,063 or 24.94 percent.

"Some of the food commodities that play a significant role in the poverty line structure include rice, filtered clove cigarettes, broiler chicken meat, chicken eggs, and instant noodles," said Wahyu.

The decrease in the poverty rate is also driven by several positive factors in the first quarter of 2025, including abundant rice production, an increase in the Government Purchase Price (HPP) of rice, a rise in export commodity prices, and government discount policies and social assistance.

The decrease in the poverty rate brings great hope that South Sumatra can soon achieve the target of a single-digit percentage poverty rate, while also demonstrating the effectiveness of various strategic policies implemented by the government in recent months.

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