Poverty, unemployment will be govt's main focus in 2006

Poverty, unemployment will be govt's main focus in 2006

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Reducing the country's poverty and open unemployment rate will be
the government's main focus in its development priorities for
2006.

In its 2006 Government Action Plan (RKP) draft, the government
aims to reduce poverty to 32.4 million people, or 13.3 percent of
the country's 220 million population.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported that Indonesia's
poverty rate as of 2004 stood at 16.4 percent of the population,
or 36.1 million people.

"We will also reduce the country's open unemployment rate to
9.6 million people, or 8.9 percent of the 103.9 million
workforce," State Minister of National Development Planning Sri
Mulyani Indrawati said on Wednesday during the opening of a
three-day National Development Planning Plenary Meeting.

Data from BPS shows that open unemployment reached 9.9 percent
of the workforce, or some 10.3 million people, in 2004.

Apart from the reduction in poverty and unemployment, the
government plans to also provide better access to education and
health services, revive agricultural and rural development,
improve law enforcement and corruption eradication efforts,
improve security and conflict resolution, and reconstruct
tsunami-devastated Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and parts of North
Sumatra.

"The government will improve its ability to provide the most
basic needs for the poor and ensure that the fuel subsidy
compensation program indeed reaches them," Mulyani said.

The government raised domestic fuel prices by an average of 29
percent on March 1 to slash the burgeoning fuel subsidies. In
return, it has prepared a Rp 17.8 trillion fund for the poor to
help ease the burden of those affected by the price hike.

Mulyani said to improve the country's open unemployment rate,
the government would boost economic growth, particularly by
increasing exports and investment into the country.

"We plan to increase exports by 5 percent and investment by
1.2 percent next year," she said. "This increase in economic
activity will hopefully help absorb the country's increasing
workforce."

According to BPS, Indonesia's exports reached US$75 million in
2004, while foreign direct investment reached $10.27 million.

At the same occasion, Minister of Finance Yusuf Anwar said the
government has forecast an economic growth of 6.1 percent next
year, following an estimated 5.5 percent growth this year.

With some 2.5 million new workers entering the job market each
year, Indonesia's economy needs to expand by at least 6 percent
to be able to absorb them.

Despite its ability to achieve an average 5 percent growth
rate over the past three years, Indonesia's economic engine has
primarily been domestic consumption, with exports and investment
still lagging behind.