JAYAPURA - The Daily Executive of Papua Regional Secretary Derek Hegemur instructed all Regional Apparatus Organizations within the Provincial Government, to focus on reducing poverty in Papua through a work program.

This was said by Secretary Derek in Jayapura, Tuesday, when giving a statement to reporters.

"We ask the Head of the Regional Apparatus Organization to focus more on reducing poverty in Papua to support the achievement of a good quality of life for the people in Papua," explained Derek.

While with the remaining districts and cities, after the formation of a new autonomous region, Derek said that efforts to reduce poverty in Papua should be easier.

"In the past, we used to take care of 29 districts and 1 city, now there are fewer Regional Apparatus Organizations are taken care of. So, I think the handling can be more targeted. And that's what is expected in developing new autonomous regions," he said.

The Central Bureau of Statistics of Papua Province previously released the percentage of poor people in March 2023 at 26.03 percent, a decrease of 0.77 percentage points against September 2022, and 0.58 percentage points against March 2022.

However, Associate Expert Statistician of the Social Statistics Function of Papua Central Bureau of Statistics Sugiyanto said the percentage of urban poor in March 2023 reached 5.68 percent or an increase of 0.39 percentage points compared to September 2022.

In March 2023, on average, poor households in Papua Province had 4.98 household members.

Thus, the poverty line per poor household on average is Rp3,418,616, per poor household, per month. ***