Jakarta, IndonesiaSentinel.com — Regular purchases of drinking water by the community are one of the factors that burden the purchasing power of the middle class, causing them to drop in class. Gallon water is one of the routine purchases of the community, which is actually free in developed countries,
Senior economist, who is a former Minister of Finance, Bambang Brodjonegoro, said that the decline in the economic level of the middle class in Indonesia was not only caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the massive layoffs. But also due to daily necessities, one of which is the need for gallon water.
“Unconsciously, it has eroded our income quite a bit with our habits of relying on gallon water, bottled water, and all kinds of drinking water,” said Bambang at the office of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), Jakarta, quoted on August 2, 2024.
The habit of consuming bottled water does not occur in every country. In developed countries, for example, middle-class citizens are accustomed to drinking through tap water provided by the government in public places and do not need to spend money to buy drinks. This has maintains the purchasing power of the middle class, because they do not have the nessecity to spend money on drinking water.
However, Bambang stated that the need for drinking water is only one among many other factors that have caused the middle class to fall into lower economic classes. He suspects that the main factor in the collapse of the middle class in Indonesia is the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, many middle-class people have lost their jobs and experienced business bankruptcy. After the pandemic subsided, people were again faced with other problems, such as high interest rates, which also affected the economy.
The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) noted an increase in the number of vulnerable poor people from 2019 as many as 54.97 million people or 20.56% of the total population, to 67.69 million people or 24.23% of the total population, in 2024.
In addition, there was also an increase in the vulnerable middle class or aspiring middle class, from 2019 only as many as 128.85 million or 48.20% of the total population, to 137.50 million people or 49.22% of the total population.
The increase in the number of both groups came from the middle class, who were demoted.
As for the number of middle-class people in Indonesia in 2019, it was 57.33 million people or equivalent to 21.45% of the total population, which left only 47.85 million people or equivalent to 17.13% remaining in 2024.
(Raidi/Agung)
