At least Rp51.83 trillion of the 2022 village funds have been channeled to village treasury accounts as of October 3, Minister of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration Abdul Halim Iskandar informed on Monday.
“Village funds have been disbursed to 74,808 villages, or the equivalent of 99 percent of villages,” he said at a press conference here.
Of the total village funds, at least Rp16.729 trillion has been used to provide cash assistance to 7,295,193 beneficiary families, he expounded.
Meanwhile, Rp2.068 trillion has been used to absorb as many as 808,661 village workers under the Village Cash Work Unit (PKTD) program.
“Women workers absorbed in PKTD reached 94,512 people,” he added.
Further, Rp3.747 trillion has been used for the COVID-19 Safe Villages program, Rp8.072 trillion for food security, and Rp21.22 trillion for other village priority programs.
The disbursement of village funds from 2015–2021 led to a 70-percent increase in village residents’ incomes: from Rp572,586 per capita per month to Rp971,445 per capita per month, Iskandar informed.
“The optimization of self-management in the use of village funds as well as the revitalization of village-owned enterprises (BUMDes) is expected to continue to increase the income of village residents in the future,” he said.
According to the minister, the increase in the income of village residents has had an impact on the poverty rate in villages, which has declined from 2015 to 2022.
“Since the distribution of village funds, poverty in villages has decreased from 14.21 percent in 2015 to 12.29 percent in 2022,” he informed.
In addition, he said that the Gini ratio (economic inequality) has also slid from 0.334 in 2015 to 0.314 in 2022, supported by the participation and mutual cooperation of citizens in village development.
“The distribution of village funds can contain economic inequality. Village funds play a role in the equal distribution of development benefits,” the minister added.
Source: Antara News