The Indonesian Government has assured that the national stocks of rice and other foodstuffs are sufficient to last until the end of 2022.

“In the coordination meeting, it was decided that the first policy would be the purchase of grains or rice from farmers with price flexibility,” Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, informed at a limited coordination meeting on food policy, according to a statement received in Jakarta on Saturday.

The government is intensively monitoring and evaluating the implementation of national food policies so that they are in line with current conditions, he said.

This is to ensure that the food needs of the community can be met equitably, he added.

The coordination meeting on Friday (September 2, 2022) also decided that the National Food Agency will task the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) with strengthening the government’s rice reserve stock (CBP) by purchasing grains or rice through a flexible price mechanism.

Farmers’ harvest is estimated to reach 5 million tons, and Bulog is expected to absorb up to 1.2 million tons through a flexible price mechanism.

Furthermore, Hartarto noted that in August 2022, foodstuffs experienced deflation of 2.64 percent (month to month).

The commodities that contributed to deflation were red onions (0.15 percent), red chilis (0.12 percent), cayenne pepper (0.07 percent), cooking oil (0.06 percent), chicken meat (0.06 percent), tomatoes (0.03 percent), and fresh fish, oranges, and garlic (0.01 percent each).

Meanwhile, commodities that contributed to inflation were chicken eggs and rice (0.02 percent each).

“From this figure, we also had a meeting with all governors and asked all governors to help suppress inflation through various efforts, including market operations and arranging transportation as support for facilitating distribution,” Hartarto said.

The meeting was also attended by the Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Trade, Minister of Industry, Deputy Minister of SOEs, head of the National Food Agency, Food Task Force deputy, head of Statistics Indonesia, head of the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency, president director of Bulog, secretary of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, deputy for food and agribusiness coordination at the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, and representatives from the Ministry of Finance and the Cabinet Secretary.

Source: Antara News