House of Representatives (DPR RI) Speaker Puan Maharani drew attention to the surge in prices of staple food items at the end of 2021 and urged the government to address the issue immediately.

“The government must immediately control the staple food prices at the end of this year. Several staple foods, such as cooking oil, chili, onions, and chicken eggs, are very expensive, more than (the prices) at the end of the previous year,” Maharani noted in a statement here, Tuesday.

Maharani assessed that people earning a low income would be affected the most by the surge in prices.

The House speaker noted that as of December 24, 2021, the price of cooking oil in the market exceeded the ceiling retail price (HET), which is Rp11 thousand per liter, and even the price of packaged cooking oil had reached Rp20 thousand per liter. The prices of other staple foods, such as red chili peppers, broiler eggs, and shallots, had soared.

“Many housewives have complained that the price of chili in several regions had even reached Rp140 thousand per kilogram, surpassing the cost of meat,” she noted.

According to Maharani, the problem of rising food prices at the end of the year must also be solved in future, as this problem constantly recurs for which a comprehensive solution is required.

The House speaker pressed for inter-sectoral policy synergy from the upstream to downstream sides and from the production to trade sectors.

She highlighted the need for putting in place a regulation for driving the national economic recovery amid the COVID-19 pandemic in order to provide financial protection to people from the low-income group.

“At the same time, it can encourage the business world, the real sector, and MSMEs to run again, with inflation that is under control,” she added.

Source: Antara News