Gov’t to Continue Supervise Food Supply Availability and Price Stability

President Jokowi delivers his directives during a limited meeting, Wednesday (13/5). (Photo by: PR/Agung)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo affirmed that supply availability and price stability in the field should be supervised.

“This is the third time we have talked about the staple food issues due to matters of stock availability and price, it is important for us to continue to monitor the price stability daily, weekly,” President Jokowi said during a limited meeting, Wednesday (13/5).

The President asked his cabinet to pay attention to FAO’s warning on the food crisis as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I saw a report from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in April that staple food experienced deflation of 0.13 percent,” the President added.

This report, the President stated, indicates a decrease in demand for food ingredients which also means that people’s purchasing power has decreased.

Therefore, the Government has launched Social Cash Assistance for 9 million families, Village Cash Assistance Sourced from Village Fund Program for 11 million families, Staple Food Card Program, Aspiring Family Program, and Cash Labor-intensive Program, in the hope that these programs will increase people’s purchasing power.

In the context of supply availability and price stability, the President highlighted two commodities, namely shallot and sugar. Shallot, he said, has a national average price of Rp51,000, far from the reference price for shallots, which is Rp32,000.

“Then, the price of sugar is around Rp17,000-17,500 even though the Highest Retail Price (HET) should be at Rp12,500,” the President added.

Therefore, the President instructed the problem to be sorted out. “Whether the problem is in the distribution process or lack of stock or deliberate price manipulation for a large profit. I instruct you to supervise the field, control the price so that people’s purchasing power can increase,” he concluded. (FID/EN)

Translated by: Fairuzzamani Inayatillah
Reviewed by: Yuyu Mulyani