Local governments must step up efforts to control the prices of goods and services during the Christmas and New Year holiday period, Home Affairs Minister Muhammad Tito Karnavian has said.
“It is because the Christmas and New Year celebrations raise the demand for certain commodities, which may cause the inflation rate to increase,” he explained.
He made the statement during the “Regional Inflation Control Coordination Meeting,” which was held both virtually and offline at Sasana Bhakti Building, Home Affairs Ministry’s headquarters, Jakarta, on Monday.
Furthermore, the Christmas and New Year holidays will increase people’s mobility as well as affect the stability of the prices of foods, goods, and services, he said.
Hence, it is important to control the price of goods and services, not only at the national or local level, but also globally, the minister emphasized.
The joint efforts of ministries and agencies at the central level as well as the attempts of regional governments in their respective regions are essential to control inflation, he added.
Furthermore, he lauded regions whose inflation rate is currently below the average national inflation rate of 5.42 percent year-on-year, such as Riau Islands province and Lhokseumawe city (Aceh province), whose inflation rates have reached 5.26 percent and 4.42 percent, respectively.
Still, a number of regions have relatively high inflation, including Southeast Sulawesi province and Parepare city (South Sulawesi province), where inflation has reached 6.84 percent and 7.11 percent, respectively, he highlighted.
Karnavian then asked the governments of regions with high inflation rates to carry out a number of concrete efforts to control inflation, besides issuing regulations or circulars.
He appealed to local governments to conduct direct visits to gather detailed insight into the problems the communities are facing.
“For instance, (there is) an aviation issue, (look for) what the key (problem) is, have coordination with the aviation stakeholders, then realize the execution (of the solution to the problem),” he added.
Source: Antara News