West Java Acting Governor Asks Regencies/Cities To Accelerate Rice Aid Distribution

Acting (Pj) Governor of West Java Bey▁Keputusanhi Machmudin gave a statement in Bandung. (ANTARA/Ricky Prayoga)

BANDUNG - Acting Governor of West Java Beyvi Machmudin asked the district/city governments in this province to accelerate the distribution of phase 1 rice aid in 2024 for 4,445,601 beneficiary families (KPM)

The acceleration of the distribution of rice aid, which is part of the Government Food Reserve (CPP) program, said Bey, is expected to help the community.

"I ask districts/cities to immediately distribute this rice food reserve assistance," said Bey as quoted by ANTARA, Monday, January 29.

The hope, said Bey, is that the acceleration of the distribution of this assistance will contribute to controlling inflation in districts/cities.

According to him, food assistance coordinated by the West Java Food and Livestock Security Service (DKPP), Perum Bulog for the West Java Region, and PT Pos Indonesia Regional 2 and 3 West Java Regions, has just started rolling in Bandung City.

The rice food assistance program from the central government for 4.4 million KPM, said Bey, is also expected to help suppress the turmoil in rice prices, which in the past week began to creep up.

"In 2023, the distribution of rice reserves was quite effective in suppressing the inflation rate and normalizing rice prices in the market," he said.

According to him, thanks to the distribution of food reserves and the low-cost market movement carried out by the West Java Provincial Government together with districts/cities in 2023, the West Java inflation rate was 2.48 percent lower than the national inflation of 2.61 percent.

"Learning from last year, we hope that the acceleration of distribution can help reduce prices, especially rice," he said.