Economist On Rice One Price: It's Not Clear

Photo: Special

JAKARTA The Economist of the Indonesian Political Economy Association (AEPI), Khudori, highlighted the uncertainty in the direction of government policies regarding the application of one-price rice at the consumer level.

According to him, the government should not rush to convey policy plans to the public if there is no clarity on the execution.

"The government has told the public that it will immediately make regulations that there will only be one rice, namely general rice or regular rice with the HET. It has been weeks without clarity. This creates uncertainty," Khudori told VOI, Wednesday, August 27.

He considered that this condition should be an introspection material for the food policy authorities.

"This incident after incident must make an introspection policy authority. It is better not to talk to the public about policy plans if the government does not want to execute them," said Khudori.

"Don't talk to the public about the policy change plan if the government can't confirm when it will be released. Because business actors will definitely wait. Waiting is the worst job," he continued.

Khudori explained that farmers and consumers will be the ones who will receive the impact of this policy. However, business actors are the most directly affected, because they have to adjust their business strategy to the provisions of the new price.

"Farmers and consumers will only accept the impact of the policy. Those who are waiting are business actors who are directly affected by the policy," he said.

The government through the National Food Agency (Bapanas) is formulating a one-price rice policy at the consumer level. Deputy for Food Availability and Stabilization of Badanas, I Gusti Ketut Astawa, said that this policy is still in the study stage with various stakeholders.

Asked about the possibility of one-price rice referring to the highest retail price (HET) of medium rice that has just been raised, Ketut did not confirm for sure.

However, he acknowledged that the direction of the policy could refer to medium prices.

Ketut menjelaskan, konsep satu harga ini bertujuan agar masyarakat tidak terbebani oleh lonjakan harga yang terlalu tinggi.

Meski begitu, kata dia, akan ada pengecualian untuk beras khusus seperti Pandan Wangi, yang tetap akan ditata agar harganya tidak melambung terlalu jauh.

Ketut explained that the concept of one price aims to prevent people from being burdened by soaring prices.

Even so, he said, there would be exceptions for special rice such as Pandan Wangi, which would still be arranged so that the price would not soar too far.