One of the factors impeding the decline in poverty in Indonesia is the government’s lack of attention to the need to reduce income inequality. Fiscal policy and economic growth can effectively reduce poverty by lowering income inequality, so the inequality channel must be considered. Socioeconomic and infrastructure differences between provinces can influence the effectiveness of economic growth and fiscal policy in reducing poverty. This study aimed to assess the effects of economic growth and fiscal policy regarding spending and taxes on direct and indirect poverty reduction through lowering income inequality, as well as considering how these variables influence poverty by province. This study employed secondary data, including panel data for 2010–2023 from 34 provinces in Indonesia, which were analyzed using autoregressive cross-lagged SEM. This study found that economic growth and fiscal policy regarding spending on education and health are statistically significant in directly reducing poverty in regions outside Java but do not affect it through income inequality. Taxes increase income inequality, and the social safety net does not reduce poverty outside Java. The increased spending on education and health should continue, but improvements are needed in terms of targeting social safety nets and tax reforms to strengthen the system and reduce inequality.

A strategic issue in national development is the integration between national and regional planning. This research had the aims to: (1) analyse the consistency and integration between national and regional plans, (2) analyse the consistency of national and regional planning with the actual implementation, and (3) analyse the factors that influenced the inconsistencies of national and regional planning in the agricultural sectors. The research was carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Indramayu Regency, in West Java Province and South Lampung Regency in Lampung Province. The data were analysed using both content and consistency analyses and a comparative case study. The research results showed that: (1) the level of consistency between the planning documents from the MoA and those from Indramayu Regency reached 87.68% and 95.81%, when compared with those from South Lampung Regency; (2) in terms of the consistency between the documents and the actual implementation, South Lampung Regency had programs/activities which were more integrated with the MoA programs compared with Indramayu Regency; and (3) there were five main factors which caused inconsistencies: policies from the district heads and the parties involved, force majeure, the development priorities, the communication distortion, and support from the political parties. The central government (the MoA) and the Regional Agriculture Office must collaborate by making an electronic-based priority scale of development planning and by reinforcing the capacities of regional planners.

One of the factors leading to the slow decline in poverty in Indonesia is the lack of government at-tention to reduce income inequality. Fiscal policy and economic growth can effectively reduce poverty after lowering income inequality, so the inequality channel must be considered. Socioec-onomic and infrastructure differences between provinces can influence the effectiveness of eco-nomic growth and fiscal policy in reducing poverty. This study aims to assess the effects of eco-nomic growth and fiscal policy on spending and taxes on direct and indirect poverty reduction through lowering income inequality and how these variables influence poverty by province. This study employed secondary data, including panel data for 2010-2023 from 34 provinces in Indo-nesia, which were analyzed using an autoregressive cross-lagged SEM model. The study finds that economic growth and fiscal policy on spending on education and health are statistically sig-nificant in reducing poverty directly in non-Java but do not affect it through income inequality. Taxes increase income inequality, and the social safety net does not reduce poverty outside Java. Increased spending on education and health should continue, with improvements in targeting so-cial safety nets and tax reforms needed to make the system more progressive and reduce inequality