"In a recent meeting, the President asked local governments to use unexpected funds in the regional budget, which has only been used for Rp1.8 trillion as of this August," she informed during a meeting with the House of Representatives here on Thursday.
The funds can be actively used by regional administrations just by requesting their arrangement from the Home Minister, while the main regulation has been issued recently.
Indrawati said she expected the unforeseen contingency fund to be used to provide subsidies or compensation to stabilize prices, including regional transportation tariffs.
Furthermore, it is expected that the Regional Inflation Control Team (TPID) will continue to cooperate with the Central Inflation Control Team (TPIP).
During the meeting, Bank Indonesia (BI) senior deputy governor Destry Damayanti said that TPIP and TPID are currently focusing on controlling food inflation, which reached 11 percent year on year (yoy) in July 2022.
TPIP and TPID are striving to bring down food inflation to 6 percent yoy, she informed.
"If food inflation is not reduced, it will impact core inflation. So far, we have seen that the inflation of government-administered prices can be controlled, but food inflation is a problem," Damayanti said.
Therefore, BI, together with the government, has formed the National Movement for Food Inflation Control (GNPIP), which must be intensified by TPIP and TPID, she said.
The movement aims to overcome the unbalanced food supply across regions and organize the people's markets in some areas.
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Translator: Agatha V, Kenzu T
Editor: Suharto
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