Cooking Oil, Soybeans, And Wheat Enter Sri Mulyani's Radar To Suppress Inflation Ahead Of Ramadan

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani said that her party had prepared a special scheme to contain inflation, especially from pagan commodities, so that it remained under control within the target range of 3 percent plus minus 1 percent.

According to the Minister of Finance, the government is very wary of the prices of certain foodstuffs, such as cooking oil, soybeans, and wheat, which have the potential to cause inflationary pressure. Moreover, in the next one or two months Indonesia will be faced with seasonal momentum which has the opportunity to raise prices for basic goods.

“We have made calculations which will certainly put pressure on this price against inflation in the next few months. Especially for Indonesia, because we anticipate Ramadan and Eid. So, seasonal commodity prices will definitely have implications for the economic recovery process in Indonesia," he said in a virtual discussion on Wednesday, March 16.

The Minister of Finance added that the government will continue to monitor economic dynamics and commodity price volatility, as well as compile an analysis of economic and fiscal risks for various scenarios to formulate anticipatory steps.

In addition, policies will also be directed at maintaining economic stability and the national financial system, protecting the purchasing power of the poor and vulnerable, as well as maintaining the sustainability of the recovery of the business sector and fiscal sustainability.

"The government will use various tools, both fiscal and monetary and even market intervention, so that we can first ensure that the recovery process will continue," he said.

Furthermore, the state treasurer revealed that his party had prepared mitigation measures from the impact of the extreme increase in commodity prices due to global supply chain disruptions.

"So, we will use all the tools so that we can navigate this very challenging situation of the pandemic that is not over yet, as well as new geopolitical risks," said Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani.

Based on a report released by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), it was stated that there was a deflation of 0.02 percent throughout February 2022.

This figure makes the inflation book on a calendar year basis (January-February 2022) to 0.72 percent and annually (February 2022 to February 2021) is 2.03 percent.