Goods, service consumption slides

Goods, service consumption slides

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta office of the Central Bureau of
Statistics (BPS) hinted on Friday that city residents were facing
serious threats of malnutrition and poor health if the economic
crisis continues.

"The economic crisis has seriously affected people's
purchasing power and has lowered their consumption of goods and
services," the head of the population division at the city office
of the bureau, Rusmandesiar, told The Jakarta Post.

He said people's consumption of goods and services was the key
indicator used by his office to determine the Human Development
Index (IPM).

"The current IPM score is seven percent lower than the figure
in 1996," he said, while citing that the present index is 69.1,
while in 1996 it was 76.1.

Rusmandesiar, who based his statement on the board's National
Social and Economic Survey (Susenas), which was conducted in
February last year, said that although the IPM score was still
far from the possible score of 100, Jakarta topped the list among
the country's 26 provinces.

Lifespan, literacy and their school duration rate were the
other IPM indicators used, he said.

Based on the standard set by the United Nations Development
Program (UNDP), the indicators for lifespan are set at 25 years
old as the minimum rate and 85 years old as the maximum; literacy
scores are between 0 to 100; school duration rate is between 0 to
15 years and the consumption rate is between Rp 900,000 to Rp
1.33 million a year.

"Excluding the consumption rate, other IPM indicators have
increased.

"Perhaps it was because of the government-sponsored social
safety net program (JPS)," he said.

The Susenas has been conducted every three years, with the
latest survey questioning a random 6,080 families from the 2.5
million families of the 9.6 million people in the city.

Rusmandesiar said that the random figure was the minimum
number which was valid for the survey.

The survey showed that from the city's five mayoralties, South
Jakarta had the highest IPM index with 72.4 while North Jakarta
was the lowest with an index of 66.3.

"It means that the South Jakarta mayoralty has the lowest
level of 'suffering', probably because the area has the largest
number of middle-class residents than other areas.

"The comparison also means that in 1999, the middle-class were
still able to consume goods and services at relatively the same
quality and quantity with that in 1996 when the country was not
in the crisis yet," Rusmandesiar said.(ind)