VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) ordered local governments to cooperate with the Central Inflation Control Team (TPID) and the regions (TPID). This aims to reduce the rate of inflation.

According to the Head of State, if there is strong cooperation, the government will control inflation to below 3 percent. This was said by the Head of State when opening the 2022 National Coordination Meeting for Inflation Control, at the State Palace, Thursday (18/8/2022).

"Ask in our area what is the price increase that causes inflation. It could be rice, it could be red onions, it could be chili and check it," said the President.

"The Central Inflation Control Team checks which regions have abundant supply or abundant supply?

The President said that the world is currently in a difficult position due to the Covid-19 pandemic plus the war in Ukraine-Russia. This led to a global food, energy and financial crisis.

In the midst of this situation, he also encouraged his staff at the central and regional levels to not only work routinely and standardly. But have to work in detail.

"We can't work just looking at the macro, it won't work, I don't believe it. We can see the macro, we see the micro, moreover we have to look at the details through numbers and data," he said.

The global situation also encourages inflation which is now a scourge in all countries. Indonesia's inflation as of July 2022 is at 4.94 percent (year on year).

The President said that this figure is still better than some other countries. Such as Turkey, whose inflation reached 79 percent, the European Union 8.9 percent, and the United States which reached 8.5 percent.

The Head of State also reminded that Indonesia's inflation rate, which is still at 4.94 percent, is due to the large amount of subsidies. For energy, the government subsidizes up to IDR 502 trillion from the state budget.

The President will also ask the Minister of Finance to calculate the ability of the government's APBN to continue the subsidy. "Pertalite, Pertamax, diesel, LPG, electricity are not the actual prices, not economic prices, those are prices subsidized by the government," he said.

"Our calculations are that this year the subsidy is IDR 502 trillion, a very large number. This is what we need to know, what for?, to prevent inflation from being high," he said, adding.

Regarding food prices, the President invited all parties to be grateful because food prices in Indonesia are still stable. Especially rice.

In Indonesia, the price of rice is much cheaper when compared to a number of countries. Such as in Japan Rp. 66,000, South Korea Rp. 54,000, the United States Rp. 53,000, and China Rp. 26,000.

"This is what we must maintain and improve so that we are not only self-sufficient in rice, but later we can export rice. Participate in overcoming food shortages in several countries because it has been a disaster," he said. (RRI)