Government Ensures Availability Of Basic Foods Ahead Of Eid
JAKARTA - The government is trying to ensure the availability of nine basic commodities (sembako) ahead of the Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr or Lebaran moments.
"The distribution is close, so we ask that nine basic commodities can be available," said Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto as quoted by ANTARA, Monday, February 19.
According to him, the government is trying to ensure the availability of basic necessities to prevent a spike in inflation.
Moreover, a national economic survey will soon be carried out, so that goods must be available and under control.
Separately, Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan reported his review of rice stocks in modern retail.
Zulkifli observed that the supply of premium rice in modern retail markets had increased prices, so some retailers chose not to take new supplies because prices had exceeded the highest retail price (HET).
Nevertheless, Zulkifli said there were still retailers who still sold rice on the HET.
"Indeed, the supply for premium prices has increased, so some modern retailers don't take it because the purchase is already above the HET. But there are still some retailers who still take the sale above the HET," said Zulkifli.
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Zulkifli admitted that he would investigate further the cause of the price increase to find the right solution.
As an effort to overcome it, said Zulkifli again, the government decided to accelerate the distribution of rice supply stabilization and food prices (SPHP) from Bulog.
"The government took a solution to speed up the SPHP rice from Bulog. We saw the SPHP, right. That's the price of course the subsidy price, the sale of the 5 kg is Rp. 54,000, there is already a profit in that," said Zulkifli.
However, said Zulkifli, sales of SPHP rice increased dramatically due to the increase in premium rice prices. This causes the supply of SPHP rice to run out quickly in the market.
Therefore, according to Zulkifli, a coordination meeting will be held to increase the supply of SPHP rice in order to better meet consumer needs.