As Indonesia’s poverty struggles persist, Prabowo’s growth goals look elusive

Indonesia’s new president wants to transform his nation into an high-income economy by 2045, but the fight against poverty is far from won

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A homeless man sleeps on the street near his cart during the morning rush hour in Jakarta in November last year. Photo: AFP

Published: 3:00pm, 5 Jan 2025

Indonesia could fall short of its goal to become an advanced nation by 2045 as analysts warn bureaucratic inefficiencies may frustrate President Prabowo Subianto’s ambition to shrink the country’s poverty rate by the end of his first term.

Data from the government’s statistics agency shows that 25.22 million people in Indonesia, or 9.03 per cent of the population, were living below the poverty line of 582,932 rupiah (US$37) per month as of March last year.

Prabowo, who was inaugurated as president in October, has set a target poverty rate of around 5 per cent by the end of his term in 2029.

In December, officials from his administration announced they were seeking to eradicate extreme poverty – defined by the World Bank as living on less than US$1.90 a day – within the next two years. As of February last year, there were around 6 million Indonesians in this bracket, according to government data, or 2.16 per cent of the population.

“We are especially targeting the eradication of extreme poverty. We aim to reduce overall poverty to a maximum of 5 per cent,” Abdul Muhaimin Iskandar, Coordinating Minister for Community Empowerment, said at the time.

“I ask all related ministries to improve infrastructure, enhance efforts to build human resources, and ensure access to direct help.”