Keep Food Stabilization, Local Government Suggested There Needs To Be Bailout Funds

Food prices (photo: dock. Antara)

JAKARTA - The central government is advised to provide a bailout of funds to local governments to maintain food stabilization. Thus, commodity prices do not increase, thus inflation can be controlled.

According to Senior Economist Indef Aviliani, the bailout funds are needed so that local governments can manage food supply and demand more effectively.

"To maintain supply (supply) and demand (request), I think the funds should be given, the name is on top funds," said Aviliani quoting Antara.

Aviliani explained that in a crisis situation, local governments need to have bailout funds to ensure the availability of food supply and stabilize prices.

"For what? If there is a crisis, they must prepare supplies, so the supply needs a bailout, so love the bailout funds so that they stabilize the price," he said.

He highlighted that currently market operations carried out by the central government sometimes take a long time, so that there are areas that are not reached by market operations and eventually experience a surge in inflation.

Therefore, Aviliani emphasized the need for "On Top" funds as an addition to assisting local governments in maintaining food price stability.

According to him, this policy must be changed immediately, because the problem of food prices has become a sustainable problem.

"Now we are waiting for market operations from the center for a long time, so finally there are areas that because it's too late to operate the market, they don't get it, inflation becomes high. So I think there needs to be On Top funds to stabilize prices," he said.

He also highlighted the importance of involving local governments in the policy of supply management and food demand.

He emphasized the need to redefinition basic food needs in each region according to local conditions, as well as maintaining the availability of food supply and demand so that inflation can be controlled.

In terms of production, Aviliani suggested that Indonesia should immediately use high technology in the agricultural sector to become a food exporting country, no longer importers.

Finally, he emphasized the importance of consumer awareness to carry out substitutions, namely replacing goods whose prices go up with other goods with the same function, so that they can help reduce market prices.

Previously, the Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) Tito Karnavian asked all regional heads, both governors and regents/mayors throughout Indonesia to do nine things in controlling the inflation rate in their respective regions.

Of the nine things requested, one of them is to carry out low-cost market operations with related agencies using their own budget from unexpected expenditure funds (BTT), subsidy budgets, fiscal incentives, and deconcentration funds from the Food Agency.