If food prices are under control and affordable, our people can be prosperousJakarta (ANTARA) - Governor of Bank Indonesia (BI) Perry Warjiyo has outlined three challenges to controlling food inflation in 2023 in order to maintain people's welfare and stabilize the political situation.
The first challenge is high global inflation, even though it has declined from 10 percent last year to around 5–6 percent this year, he informed.
"Therefore, according to the President's directives, the whole world is handling (inflation) and it has affected us. Why does BI try to maintain the exchange rate? It aims to maintain our domestic price," he said.
He made the remarks at the 2023 National Food Inflation Control Movement (GNPIP) in Java event, themed “Synergy and Innovation for National Food Security through the Implementation of Digitalization and Downstream Agriculture in Java: Gemah Ripah Loh Jinawi,” in Jakarta on Wednesday.
The second challenge is maintaining sufficient food supply within a region and between regions, he said. For example, West Java, which has abundant rice production, can supply the commodity to other regions.
Food resilience and production need to be built by utilizing digitized agri-farming, he added.
According to Warjiyo, the third challenge is the seasonal factor, which forces food inflation to be controlled.
"Ahead of Eid al-Fitr, we cannot hoard goods. Instead, sell it to people in need. For example, rice, cooking oil, eggs, and chicken must be available at the markets to support the supply,” he emphasized.
Likewise, during the third and fourth quarters, the government and related parties must acknowledge food supplies since they may be disrupted by the bad weather season, he added.
On August 18, 2022, President Joko Widodo directed his staff to control the price of food commodities in the country.
A number of efforts were carried out to achieve this, which included opening affordable markets at 2,636 locations, opening 63 Inter-Regional Cooperation (KAD), providing 75 Subsidy Programs for Transportation Costs (SOA), disbursing 2.39 million polybags under the chili planting program, replicating business models, distributing tools and machinery assistance agriculture (alsintan) and agricultural production facilities (saprotan), and agriculture digitalization.
"If food prices are under control and affordable, our people can be prosperous," Warjiyo disclosed.
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Translator: M Baqir I A, Resinta S
Editor: Sri Haryati
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