REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Agung Laksono said the government is optimistic that the country's poverty rate would continue to decline until it reached seven to eight percent of the population.

"The poverty rate in Indonesia at present is 11.37 percent of the population," the minister said here on Tuesday.

He noted that the figure showed a decline of about 5.29 percent since 2004.

"The government succeeded in lowering the poverty rate from 16.66 percent, or about 37.2 million in 2004," Agung added.

He said the government's success in lowering the poverty rate was due to a decrease in open unemployment from 9.86 percent in 2004 to 5.02 percent in March 2013.

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