President Jokowi: The Plan To Change Pertalite Prices Should Not Lower People's Purchasing Power

President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said the change in the price of Pertalite fuel oil (BBM) will be decided carefully so as not to reduce people's purchasing power and not interfere with national economic growth.

After attending an event at the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, Jakarta, Tuesday, August 23, President Jokowi said that the Pertalite price change scheme concerns the livelihoods of many people, so it will be calculated and decided very carefully.

"This concerns the lives of many people, so everything must be decided carefully, the impact is calculated lest the impact will reduce people's purchasing power, reduce household consumption," Jokowi said, as quoted by Antara.

He said the government would also mitigate the impact of changes in Pertalite prices on the national inflation rate and economic growth.

Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), Indonesia has recorded annual inflation of up to 4.94 percent (year on year/yoy) in July 2022 or the highest since October 2015, however, in the second quarter of 2022, Indonesia's economic growth managed to record a positive trend. at 5.44 percent (yoy).

The Head of State confirmed that he had ordered his staff to carefully and accurately calculate the planned price change for Pertalite, before making a decision.

"I told everything to count correctly before it was decided," he said.