In controlling inflation, the government will optimize key policies, especially to maintain the people's purchasing power, through various policies of subsidies, compensation, and social protectionJakarta (ANTARA) - Subsidy and compensation policies to maintain the people's purchasing power are the key to controlling the inflation rate, Finance Ministry's Fiscal Policy Agency (BKF) Head Febrio Kacaribu stated.
"In controlling inflation, the government will optimize key policies, especially to maintain the people's purchasing power, through various policies of subsidies, compensation, and social protection," Kacaribu noted here on Tuesday.
The ministry's BKF head remarked that apart from offering subsidies, the government will also continue to maintain the balance between public supply and demand by strengthening coordination between the central and regional inflation control teams (TPIP and TPID).
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Kacaribu explained that these efforts align with the need to stabilize domestic prices that continued to be a cause for concern along with the rising trend in inflation in July 2022, which reached 4.94 percent year-on-year (yoy), from 4.35 percent (yoy) in June 2022.
The BKF head said the inflation is influenced by the hike in the prices of chili and shallots, non-subsidized household fuel, and airfares.
Hence, Kacaribu emphasized that the government will continue to implement food price interventive policies and strengthen market supplies and operations to deal with the rising food prices.
"The support of distribution facilities is also conducted by local governments to suppress the high price of chili and shallots," he stated.
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On a month-on-month basis, he pointed out that inflation had also increased, from 0.61 percent in June to 0.64 percent, though Indonesia's overall inflation rate was still lower than that of other countries, such as the European Union, at 8.9 percent.
Despite the slight increase, core inflation was maintained at 2.86 percent (yoy) in July, reflecting Bank Indonesia's commitment to controlling inflation expectations in Indonesia.
Kacaribu said this highlighted the development of core inflation components, such as goods and services, that showed a strengthening recovery in the people's purchasing power and demand.
Meanwhile, the inflation of administered prices increased, from 5.33 percent in June to 6.51 percent in July 2022.
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Translator: Astrid H, Kenzu T
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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