Subsidy has been given there. I think other cities can follow suit."Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has expressed hope that every region will allocate funds from the budget to control prices as part of the efforts to contain the inflation rate.
"There should be a budget to control the prices, and thus, once the prices are volatile, the regional government can intervene in the market," the president remarked while opening a national coordination meeting of the regional inflation control teams here on Thursday.
The president lauded the Jakarta administration for intervening in the transportation sector to keep the inflation rate in check.
"Subsidy has been given there. I think other cities can follow suit," he affirmed.
The president also reminded police precinct chiefs, public prosecutors offices, and regional governments of their obligation to monitor warehouses at least once every two weeks or every month.
"Do they hoard large quantities of goods? If so, they have toyed with the prices. Dont they have stocks? We must know about this," he questioned.
If the stocks begin to run short, they must take steps to replenish the warehouses. If they hoard goods, they must be ordered to release them. In this way, the commodity prices in the regions can remain stable, he affirmed.
President Jokowi also called on the regional governments to focus on the development of infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, to avoid the high logistics costs.
"(They should check) whether the roads and bridges are damaged. If districts and cities can improve them, then go ahead. However, if they cannot do it, they should report these irregularities to the central government to improve them," he explained.
If there is any damaged infrastructure, the transportation fees will, no doubt, rise as additional fuel will be required, he stated.
The president also urged the regional governments to monitor stocks at the distribution level, so as to avoid price volatility.
The price of onion in Brebes District, Central Java, that produces the commodity was Rp12 thousand per kilogram, while in Jakarta, it was Rp40 thousand per kilogram, not only because of the transportation problem but also due to the low stocks.
The president pointed out that developed nations, such as the United States, had a low inflation rate of 0.12 percent and Europe, 0.04 percent, last year as they had managed to stabilize the prices.
The president appealed to the heads of regional governments to control the inflation rate, and thus, the target of 3.5, give or take one percent, can be achieved this year.
(Reported by Joko Susilo/Uu.S012/KR-BSR/A014)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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