Prevent The Spike In Inflation, The Ministry Of Home Affairs Asks Local Governments Not To Ask For Central Government Assistance To Facilitate Food Distribution

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Home Affairs emphasized that local governments do not hesitate to ask for support from the provincial government or the central government to facilitate food distribution in order to maintain a surge in inflation.

"Communication must be good, the barn area (food) but the road is not good but if it is financed itself, it feels like it will erode the APBD. So we ask for support from the Provincial and National Governments, we coordinate," said Plt. Expert Staff of the Minister of Home Affairs for Economics and Development La Ode Ahmad in the National Seminar INDEF which was witnessed online, in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Thursday, January 12.

La Ode said that inflation control relies heavily on smooth distribution. If an area can become a barn for food ingredients, but its distribution is disrupted, food prices in the area will become expensive because of difficulties in reaching production centers.

"Egricultural development is supported by one of the means of transportation, infrastructure, and modes of transportation. If roads and modes of transportation are inadequate, it will definitely affect prices," he said.

He further said that the smooth distribution is one of the four efforts of the Ministry of Home Affairs in suppressing inflation as stated in the 2022-2024 inflation control roadmap that focuses on accelerating structural improvements by encouraging digital adoption for inflation stability and economic recovery towards advanced Indonesia.

In addition to maintaining smooth distribution, the Ministry of Home Affairs also maintains price affordability by stabilizing prices and managing demand. Then, maintaining supply availability through various efforts such as digital farming and food estate, corporatizing farmers to digitizing downstream MSMEs. Then effective communication through supply exists and policies that maintain inflation expectations.

"Then sharing data. So each region between districts/cities should not stand alone and have to connect with each other," said La Ode.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has also done a number of things to control inflation, including activating the Regional Inflation Control Team (TPID), activating food task forces, providing targeted subsidies to underprivileged communities, to intensify social safety nets.

"Inflation is in my opinion every day, so we need to prepare a system that can be analyzed every day and each stakeholder must sit down together," he said.