Ahead Of Ramadan And Eid Al-Fitr, The Government Must Maintain Rice Supply To Suppress Inflation And Panic Buying

Residents queue to buy basic necessities ahead of Ramadan at a low-cost rice food event in West Pasaman Regency, West Sumatra, Monday (4/3/2024). (Between/Altas Maulana/aa)

JAKARTA The price of rice and other necessities that continued to climb ahead of Ramadan 2024 made people scream. In the midst of the high price of rice and the scarcity of rice, the government through the Ministry of Trade appealed to the public not to panic buying.

Since the last few months, rice stocks, especially premium classes, have become a topic of conversation because not only does the price continue to rise but it is also difficult to find. Ahead of Ramadan 2024, where food needs are increasing, food prices are still being observed.

Based on observations on the official website of the National Food Agency (BPN) price panel Wednesday (6/3/2024), the price of premium rice is at IDR 16,660 per kg, an increase of IDR 108 compared to the previous one. Meanwhile, the price of medium rice is at IDR 14,320/kg or a decrease of IDR 10 from the previous day.

Price increases were also experienced by other foodstuffs such as cob garlic, chicken meat, chicken eggs, white sugar, cooking oil, and wheat flour.

Recently, the Ministry of Trade asked the public to be calm and not panic buying ahead of the National Religious Holidays (HBKN) fasting Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr 1445 Hijri. The Ministry of Trade guarantees that the stock of basic food commodities is safe.

"The Ministry of Trade hopes that the public will not have to worry about the need for public rice to be consumed," said the Director General of Domestic Trade at the Ministry of Trade, Isy Karim in an event entitled Ramadan Preparation, Condition of Price of Basic Materials, in Jakarta, quoted from Antara.

Isy Karim said that panic buying by the community was not only caused by the scarcity of rice, but because they wanted to get a cheaper price. This phenomenon, according to him, could actually result in worse prices.

Karim also hopes that people will shop wisely and according to their needs. He also emphasized that the availability of Stableized Rice Supply and Food Prices (SPHP), which is the Perum Bulog program, is in a safe condition. Karim said, SPHP rice which was not available last year in modern retail this year is available to meet the needs of the community.

Panic buying is the behavior of buying a need and hoarding it in large quantities during certain emergency situations. Panic buying is usually done by the community when there is a disaster, war, or other urgent situation such as during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, quoted from the website of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Merdeka Surabaya, lecturer at the Agribusiness study program, Universitas Jember, explained that panic buying is the impact of humans' attitudes that are too excessive in feeling worry, anxiety, and fear so that they take panic buying actions.

Purchases of panic usually occur ahead of HBKN including Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr. And during that time, the central and regional governments always urge the public not to panic buying.

Panic buying can have a domino effect. When one person shops excessively, this can trigger a chain reaction around it, resulting in the stock of goods running out faster. In addition, panic buying also has the potential to cause inflation due to an increase in the price of goods.

Executive Director of the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef), Esther Sri Astuti, said the government needed to maintain domestic rice supply so that there would be no significant increase in inflation rates during Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr.

"It is important to maintain rice supply in Indonesia so that rice prices are stable and there is no sharp inflation, especially in the near future fasting month and Eid," said Esther Sri Astuti, confiscated by Antara.

The fact that rice is a basic necessity is that most Indonesians make demand for inelastic rice. So according to Esther, no matter how much the price of the people will continue to buy. However, if the increase in rice prices is allowed to encourage an increase in the price of other goods and the inflation rate soars inevitable.

According to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), rice is a commodity that contributed to inflation in February 2024 with a share of 0.21 percent of monthly inflation (month-to-month/mtm) and 0.67 percent of annual inflation (year-on-year/yoy). Rice price inflation occurred in 37 provinces throughout February 2024.