"Communication must be good. (If) The food storage area (exists) but the road is not good, but if it is self-financed, it feels like it will eat up the regional budget. So, we ask for support from the provincial and national governments; we will coordinate it," acting expert staff for economic affairs and development at the ministry La Ode Ahmad said at the “INDEF National Seminar,” which was followed from here on Thursday.
The flow of distribution highly influences inflation control, he added. If an area has a lot of food but its distribution gets disrupted, food in that area would become expensive due to difficulties in reaching production centers.
"Agricultural development is supported by, among other things, transportation, infrastructure, and modes of transportation. If the roads and modes of transportation are inadequate, it will affect prices for sure," he pointed out.
He further said that smooth distribution is one of the four efforts made by the ministry for suppressing inflation, as outlined in the 2022–2024 inflation control road map, which highlights structural improvements through digital adoption for ensuring inflation stability and economic recovery geared toward national development.
It is also maintaining price affordability by stabilizing prices and managing demand. It is maintaining the availability of supplies through a plethora of measures such as digital farming and food estates, corporatization of farmers, and digitizing downstream micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
On top of that, it is pursuing effective communication as well as implementing policies that maintain inflation expectations.
"And sharing data. So each place, among districts and cities, should not go on their own, they must be connected to each other," he explained.
The ministry has also conducted some measures to control inflation, such as dispatching the regional inflation control team (TPID), the food task force, providing subsidies to the poor in an effective and efficient manner, and improving the social safety net.
"I think inflation is every day, thus we need to set up a system that can be analyzed on a daily basis, and every stakeholder must sit together (to do that)," Ahmad said.
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Translator: Kuntum Khaira R, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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