One Year of Ahmad Luthfi – Taj Yasin's Leadership: Economy Grows, Poverty Declines

One year since Ahmad Luthfi and Taj Yasin Maemoen took office leading Central Java as governor and deputy governor for the 2025–2030 term, the pair have notched a range of achievements and progress — spanning infrastructure development, investment, education, health, and poverty reduction.

Various breakthroughs have been implemented, primarily through programmes oriented towards the public. The mobile specialist doctor programme (Speling), for instance, provides free medical examinations to the community. In addition, free education has been offered through partnership schools, scholarships for Islamic boarding school students, repairs to uninhabitable housing, and other initiatives.

Through these programmes and breakthroughs, the Central Java provincial government received at least 40 awards from various institutions during 2025. According to Governor Ahmad Luthfi, these accolades are not an end in themselves. “They are a reminder that the policies we implement must truly have an impact — serving the public, maintaining integrity, stabilising the economy, and opening the widest possible space for investment,” he said.

Central Java’s economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2025, based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), reached 5.37 per cent year-on-year. This placed the province above the national average growth rate of 5.11 per cent and made Central Java the province with the second-highest economic growth on the island of Java.

Beyond that, Central Java’s investment realisation in 2025 reached Rp 88.50 trillion, comprising Rp 50.86 trillion in foreign direct investment (PMA) and Rp 37.64 trillion in domestic investment (PMDN). This figure represents the highest achievement in the past ten years. From that investment value, a total of 105,078 projects were realised, absorbing 418,138 workers.

This growth has had a demonstrably positive impact on public welfare, with the poverty rate declining significantly from 9.48 per cent in March 2025 to 9.39 per cent in September 2025. The number of poor residents in Central Java in September 2025 stood at 3.34 million, a decrease of 21,870 compared with March 2025 and a drop of 51,520 compared with September 2024, when the figure was 3.40 million. Meanwhile, the Gini ratio in 2025 stood at 0.350, indicating that income inequality among the population is narrowing.

The economic improvement is also reflected in Central Java’s gross regional domestic product (GRDP) per capita, which now stands at Rp 50.82 million — up 5.9 per cent compared with the previous year. The open unemployment rate was maintained at 4.32 per cent as of November 2025.

The Central Java provincial government acknowledges that work remains to be done on the Human Development Index (HDI), which currently stands at 74.77. “We have been able to bring down the poverty rate and things are improving, but we must continue to push further,” said Deputy Governor Taj Yasin.

The momentum of growth above the national average, he said, must be maintained and directed towards programmes that reach the lower segments of society. “The reduction in poverty must be intensified further. Budgets must be directed towards poverty reduction collectively, including providing better access to education for persons with disabilities,” he said. This, Taj Yasin continued, is to ensure that their quality of life improves.