Smoking creates poverty

Cigarette consumption is the second largest contributor to poverty in Indonesia, after rice consumption, according to a story in The Jakarta Post citing a National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) statement on Tuesday.
“People shouldn’t be dependent on such an unproductive habit,” Bappenas head and National Development Planning Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro was quoted as saying by tribunnews.com.
Bambang called on the people to stop the bad habit and start spending on more important commodities, such as meat, so they could provide their families with more nutritious meals.
He said the government would never support a decrease in cigarette prices; instead, it would increase prices by imposing a higher excise duty on cigarettes.
“As of September 2017, cigarette consumption contributed 9.98 percent to the poverty rate in urban areas and 10.70 percent in rural areas,” Bambang said.
The contribution of cigarette consumption to the poverty rate was said to have peaked in 2014 at 11.18 percent.