Incomes shrink for 75% of Indonesian homes

Taking a hit: A man uses a three-wheeler to transport fish baskets in Aceh. Data shows that the economic fallout from Covid-19 has increased the poverty rate by 0.97 percentage points year-on-year to 10.19% in September 2020. — AFP

JAKARTA: Three out of four Indonesian households experienced an income reduction last year as breadwinners either lost jobs, switched to informal jobs or closed businesses during the pandemic while government assistance for small businesses remained limited, a recent survey has found.

The majority of the affected households were located in urban areas and had school-aged children whose education and mental health were strained, according to the joint survey by the SMERU Research Institute, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and the Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Economic Development.