President Jokowi Visits Traditional Market in Medan City
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo along with a number of editors-in-chief visited Bakti traditional market in Medan city, North Sumatra province, Thursday (02/09), to inspect the distribution of rice by the state-owned logistics company Bulog.
“We checked at several stalls in the market. The sellers had received rice from the Bulog amounting to Rp49,000 for five kilograms so the selling price will be under Rp10,000 per kilo,” the President said.
He also inspected the prices of a number of other staple foods such as meat and egg.
“For meat and egg, the prices are reasonable. Then, red onions cost around Rp40,000 (per kilograms). I think the price is still stable, so do (the price for) chillies,” he added.
In addition, the President also inspected the price of cooking oil which was also relatively stable at around Rp14,000 per liter.
President Jokowi further underlined the importance of infrastructure to support the smooth distribution of basic commodities so that the prices can be stable.
“There are 514 regencies/cities and 17,000 islands in the country. Thus, infrastructure is pivotal to solve many distribution problems, such as bad weather, road conditions, so on,” he remarked.
In the meantime, editor-in-chief of Rakyat Merdeka Kiki Iswara said that the President asked the sellers about staple food prices. That way, according to him, the President can find out the actual conditions in the ground.
“By asking directly to the sellers on the price of basic commodities, the President will know the actual condition at the lower level of society,” he said. (BPMI SETPRES/AIT) (EST/MMB)