Cooperating With The Provincial Government, BI Strengthens Inflation Control In North Sumatra

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Bank Indonesia continues its efforts to strengthen national food inflation control.

Most recently, the monetary authority together with the North Sumatra Regional Inflation Control Team (TPID) launched a flagship program for the expansion of integrated cooperation (KAD) upstream and digitizing food supply chains.

Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia Juda Agung said the program was launched at the 2023 North Sumatra National Food Inflation Control Movement (GNPIP) which was held in the city of Medan.

"There are eight integrated KAD programs, both Business to Business (BtB) and Governance to Governance (GtG) in North Sumatra for red chili commodities, broiler eggs, and shallots," he said in a written statement, Wednesday, May 31.

Juda explained, in line with that, the digitization of food supply chains simultaneously developed in supporting price control through the collaboration of virtual stores with North Sumatra's Bulog Divre on Grab and Gojek platforms, including its delivery services.

"The controlled inflation movement cannot be separated from the close synergy with the Central Government and the Regional Government through the GNPIP program in various regions. This is reflected in the development of national inflation as of April 2023 which is relatively well maintained amidst the period of Eid Al-Fitr National Religious Holidays, especially supported by the declining price pressure of volatile food groups in various regions," he said.

According to Judak, the implementation of the North Sumatra GNPIP 2023 is also expected to be a joint concrete step accelerator to control food inflation pressures, encourage production, and support national food security.

On the same occasion, Inspector General of the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) Tomsi Tohir expressed his high appreciation and appreciation for the implementation of the North Sumatra GNPIP 2023.

He said, Inspector General (Kemendagri) also reminded the importance of synergy and collaboration of all parties at the center and regions to overcome El Nino's extreme weather.

In line with Judak, North Sumatra Governor Edy Rahmayadi hopes that the implementation of the North Sumatra GNPIP 2023 can strengthen joint commitments in the context of controlling food inflation and have a national impact on price control.

"All components of the Regency/City TPID throughout North Sumatra will continue to work together to encourage the implementation of the GNPIP program and always be committed to implementing and evaluating the implementation of the 2022-2024 Inflation Control Roadmap in order to achieve food security and price stability," he stressed.

The North Sumatra GNPIP 2023 has the theme Synergy and Innovation for Food Security through Improved Productivity, Added Values, and Integrated Inter-Regional Cooperation (KAD): Bringing North Sumatra into More Dignity.

This agenda also launched two other flagship programs, namely first, optimization and strengthening food productivity to mitigate the risk of El Nino, which is realized by providing agricultural tools and machinery, providing assistance with land and weather sensors, and red chili polybags.

Second, strengthening the added value of the food sector as a pillar of the North Sumatra economy, which includes a people's business credit support program (KUR) in the food sector by Himbara and Bank Sumut, as well as showing products derived from the food sector fostered by the Bank Indonesia Representative Office in North Sumatra and the Regional Government.