At The Ratas Jokowi Discusses Soaring Prices Of Onions And White Sugar

President Joko Widodo (Photo: Twitter @Jokowi)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said he received a report about the decline in people's purchasing power amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The decline in purchasing power, he said, was based on a report from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) which stated that there was deflation in last April.

"In the BPS report in April, foodstuffs experienced a deflation of 0.13 percent. This is an indication of a decrease in demand for foodstuffs and this means that people's purchasing power is decreasing," Jokowi said when opening a limited meeting on anticipating the need for staples that was displayed on his account YouTube Presidential Secretariat, Wednesday, May 13.

For this situation, Jokowi hopes that a number of social assistance that has been channeled by the government such as direct cash assistance (BLT) to 9 million families, village BLT from village funds for 11 million families, basic food cards, the Family Hope Program (PKH), and cash for work can be help increase people's purchasing power in the midst of a pandemic like today.

In addition, Jokowi also highlighted the issue of food price stability in the community. One of the things he highlighted was shallots and sugar.

The former governor of DKI Jakarta said that until now, the average price of shallots on the market is around Rp. 51 thousand. In fact, the reference price for this commodity is only around Rp. 32 thousand.

"Then sugar is also up to now, like this I continue to work, until now the price is still Rp. 17,000 to Rp. 17,500 even though HET (the highest retail price) should be at Rp. 12,500," he said.

So, he ordered his staff to map the problems that caused prices to rise far from the highest reference or retail price.

"I want to see where the problem is, is it a matter of distribution, or is it a lack of stock or someone deliberately playing with prices for a big profit," he said.

He asked his staff to check directly on prices and problems in society.

So that there is no more expensive food and people can buy it. "I want this to really be checked in the field, controlled, so that the prices are all under control and the public can all increase their purchasing power," Jokowi concluded.