Indonesia targets poverty rate at 8 pct by 2014

An Indonesian minister has promised the government's continued efforts to reduce the poverty rate to 8 percent by 2014 from the current 11 percent, local media reported on Thursday. "The government is targeting the poverty rate at 8 percent in 2014," Social Affairs Minister Salim Segaf Al Jufri said after signing a memorandum of understanding with Fijian Minister of Social Welfare, Women and Poverty Alleviation Jiko Luveni, on the sidelines of the Bali Democracy Forum in Nusa Dua, Indonesia. He said to achieve the targets, the Indonesian Social Affairs Ministry has conducted various social programs to reduce poverty, such as the family hopes program and conditional direct cash assistance. The Social Affairs Ministry has also conducted educational program for a targeted 1.516 million poor people, with each person getting around 1.4 million rupiah (around 145.83 U.S. dollars) a year, he added. "The terms of the assistance require parents to provide education for their children," Al Jufri said, quoted by Indonesia' s largest news portal detik.com.