JAKARTA - The Retail Entrepreneurs Association (Aprindo) yesterday visited the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) office to discuss the debt of a cooking oil subsidy (migor) of Rp. 344 billion. However, at the meeting, Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan was not present.
Chairman of Aprindo Roy Nicholas Mandey regretted the absence of Zulkifli Hasan. The meeting was only attended by the ranks of the Ministry of Agriculture, including the Special Staff of the Minister of Trade Oke Nurwan.
Also present were the Director General of Domestic Trade Isy Karim, and the Head of the Kasan Trading Policy Agency.
"It's not the Trade Minister who directly chaired this meeting, now that's a shame. Maybe the Trade Minister has something that cannot be abandoned, so he doesn't come. We just have positive thinking," he told reporters, written Friday, May 5.
Furthermore, Roy also revealed that the meeting did not produce the results expected by the entrepreneur. The reason is, the Ministry of Trade stated that it has not been able to provide a recommendation for the payment of the debt of cooking oil subsidy of Rp. 344 billion because the Regulation of the Minister of Trade (Permendag) which regulates it has been revoked.
For your information, this Rp344 billion debt comes from the difference in the economic price of cooking oil at a selling price when the government decided to sell cooking oil at a price of Rp. 14,000 per liter in early 2022.
The one-price cooking oil policy is regulated in Permendag Number 1 and 3 of 2022 concerning the Provision of Simple Packaged Cooking Oil for Community Needs in the Financing Framework by the Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency.
However, the regulation has been revoked and replaced with Permendag Number 6 of 2022 concerning the Determination of Retail Prices for Palm Cooking Oil.
Roy said, the Ministry of Trade also asked employers to wait for the results of the legal opinion from the Attorney General's Office (AGO).
"We ask when is the deadline? The Ministry of Trade returns it again, it's beyond our control, because it's still waiting for a legal opinion from this Prosecutor's Office. That's what the tangled thread is," explained Roy.
Because there was no certainty, Aprindo threatened to reduce and stop cooking oil to 48,000 members. This step will be carried out if within two months there is no certainty.
Then, retail entrepreneurs will also take legal action to sue the government regarding the payment of a debt of cooking oil subsidies of IDR 344 billion.
"We ask for 2-3 months. We are still trying not to go through legal means," he explained.
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