TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Statistics Indonesia (BPS) has stated that World Bank data indicating that 60.3 percent of Indonesia's population is classified as poor should be considered solely as a reference and not as a definitive measure for the country.
"Let's be wiser in interpreting and understanding the poverty figure issued by the World Bank. Therefore, applying them as a definitive measure is not necessary; they rather serve as a reference," said Acting Head of BPS Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti at the Jakarta Presidential Palace complex on Wednesday, April 30.
Amalia explained that the standard used by the World Bank in determining the figure is the poverty line for the upper middle-income country category, which is US$6.85 per capita based on purchasing power parity (PPP) in 2017.
Thus, she said, the figure cannot be directly converted using the current exchange rate because the calculation is based on PPP 2017.
Furthermore, BPS emphasized that the World Bank's poverty line is not universally applicable. Each country should establish a national poverty line tailored to its specific characteristics and conditions.
"Therefore, if we pay more attention to the details, in addition to the poverty line or the World Bank's standard poverty line, many countries have regional poverty lines calculated individually based on their unique circumstances and cost of living."
In Indonesia, Amalia continued, the poverty line is determined based on the conditions of each province, which has a different standard of living.
She clarified that the national poverty rate is calculated by aggregating the poverty rates of each province, which are determined by their respective living conditions.
Therefore, she stated, the standard of living in the capital city of Jakarta will not be the same as the standard of living in a province like South Papua.
"Jakarta Province and South Papua Province have different poverty lines," Amalia concluded.
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