JAKARTA, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia posted a 9.41 percent of poverty ratio in March this year, lower than 9.66 percent recorded in September last year, Head of Indonesia's Central Statistics Bureau (BPS) Suhariyanto said here on Monday.
With the latest poverty ratio figure, Suhariyanto said total poverty number in Indonesia stood at 25.14 million ones as of March this year from total population of around 267 million.
"This is an exciting trend. The poverty reduction has gone significantly," Suhariyanto said in his office here, adding that the ratio decrease persisted in urban and rural areas.
The significant poverty reduction throughout the period was highly contributed by government's various social assistance programs formed in the distributions of smart card and health card, coupled with direct cash and rice allowances for the poor people, he added.
Detailing further, Suhariyanto said the poverty figure in urban areas has also dropped to 6.69 percent in March from 6.89 percent in September last year.
In rural areas, the poverty ratio in March stood at 12.85 percent, lower than 13.10 percent recorded in September last year, he added.
