VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian government is working to strengthen food stability to control the inflation rate, Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency (BKF) of the Ministry of Finance Febrio Kacaribu has said.

One of the biggest contributors to the inflation of 2.28 percent year-on-year (yoy) recorded in September was rice. Therefore, to anticipate price increases, the government quickly met supply needs through rice imports.

"The volatile food (VF) component of price inflation has also continued its upward trend, mainly driven by rising rice prices due to the impact of El Nino," Kacaribu said here on Tuesday.

The President, he added, has instructed that rice imports be increased by one million tons to strengthen national rice reserves.

Volatile price inflation in September was recorded at 3.62 percent yoy, up from 2.42 percent yoy in August.

Besides maintaining rice supplies, the government is also making other efforts to maintain food stability such as market operations and the provision of cheap food in various regions.

"The non-cash food assistance program, which started this month, is also expected to be able to maintain people's purchasing power and restrain the increase in food prices," said Kacaribu.

Although rice made a large contribution to September inflation, the inflation rate was still lower compared to August, when it reached 3.27 percent yoy.

This decline was driven by a slowdown in inflation in the government-administered price component (AP) and core inflation.

Inflation in AP components experienced a sharp decline in line with the end of the base effect of fuel price adjustments in September 2022.

However, the government will remain alert to pressure on non-subsidized fuel prices, tracking the recent trend of increasing world crude oil prices.

Statistics Indonesia (BPS) recorded annual inflation of 2.28 percent in September 2023. Meanwhile, the monthly inflation (month-to-month/mtm) reading was 0.19 percent and year-to-date (ytd) inflation was 1.63 percent.

(Antara News)