Beware Of Food Inflation, Sri Mulyani Is Worried That The Poor Will Be Under Pressure

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani. (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati expressed concern about a spike in food inflation or volatile food because until February 2024 it reached 8.47 percent on an annual basis or year on year (yoy).

It is feared that this will have a bad impact on the poor.

"We also remain alert to inflation components, especially from food factors. We see the tendency of volatile food that contributes to this inflation must be seen properly because of seasonal factors such as el nino," he explained in a working meeting with Commission XI DPR RI, Tuesday, March 19, 2024.

Sri Mulyani conveyed another factor, namely the high demand factor that must be anticipated because food prices will determine the high poverty rate, where the government wants to achieve extreme poverty of 0 percent.

According to Sri Mulyani, in 2024 this is one of the challenges, namely inflation where general inflation is at the level of 2.75 percent yoy.

The core inflation in February 2024 was recorded at 1.68 percent (yoy), stable from inflation in the previous month.

"We see and must be aware of inflationary components originating from food that will certainly erode, especially the poorest groups," he said.

Sri Mulyani said that one of the commodities that became a concern was rice and the government had taken steps to import rice and carry out market operations.

"The government has taken steps by procuring foreign rice through imports and also stabilizing it through food price distribution interventions, especially rice," he said.

In addition to rice, Sri Mulyani said that the government's attention also came from soaring fertilizer prices due to unstable geopolitical conditions and in terms of seasonal factors which are the determining factors for domestic and global rice production.