The scourge of all countries is inflation.Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has asked Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati to review the resilience of the 2022 state budget (APBN) considering the government’s spending on subsidies has reached Rp502 trillion (US$33.8 billion).
At the opening of the 2022 national coordination meeting for controlling inflation at the State Palace here on Thursday, he said that the government has managed the APBN to enable the disbursal of subsidies to the public.
The subsidies are being provided so that the recent increase in energy and food prices does not burden the community too much.
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The current global geopolitical uncertainty has disrupted the supply chain of various commodities, resulting in a surge in global prices of energy and food products.
Hence, by providing subsidies and assistance, the government is hoping to maintain the people's purchasing power and control the national inflation rate.
According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), Indonesia's inflation rate was recorded at 4.94 percent year-on-year (yoy) in July 2022.
“The 4.94-percent inflation rate was able to be maintained since the price of fuel – (such as) Pertalite, Pertamax, (and) diesel — and LPG (liquefied petroleum gas), (as well as) electricity was not increased,” the President noted.
He said that in other countries, inflation was comparatively much higher, for instance, the United States recorded an inflation of 8.5 percent and the European Union 8.9 percent.
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In fact, one country reported inflation of 79 percent, he noted.
“The scourge of all countries is inflation," he added.
As one of the measures for controlling inflation, the government is currently reviewing the possibility of adjusting the price of Pertalite since the subsidized quota for the fuel set in the 2022 APBN is about to run out.
According to state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina, Pertalite consumption reached 16.8 million kiloliters as of July 2022, equivalent to 73.04 percent of the total subsidized quota of 23 million kiloliters set in the 2022 APBN.
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Translator: Indra Pribadi, Uyu Liman
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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