Jakarta (ANTARA) - Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas) Arief Prasetyo Adi emphasized the importance of regional governments subsidizing the prices of food commodities in the cheap food movement (GMP) to stabilize the prices ahead of Eid al-Fitr.
"The food price subsidies provided through the GPM by the Central Java Government is a step to help people access staple food with more affordable prices," he said at the launch of GPM in Semarang, Central, Java, according to a statement on Saturday.
Adi explained that the movement is one of the government's main steps to stabilize staple food prices.
He expressed appreciation to the Central Java Government, saying that its seriousness in stabilizing food prices must be followed by other regions in the country.
"Central Java is one of the provinces that handle their inflation very well. The 35 districts and cities in Central Java are seriously monitoring the food supplies and prices," he remarked.
He highlighted that GPM serves as an additional stimulus in accordance with the direction of the Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan.
The Bapanas head noted that Central Java has allocated subsidies through the movement. For instance, the lower-cost cooking oil Minyakita is sold at Rp14,000 (approximately US$0.84) per liter, while its retail price ceiling is set at Rp15,700 per liter.
He hoped that other regional governments could apply the same initiative without disrupting the market.
Assistant for Economy and Development at the Regional Secretariat of Central Java Sujarwanto Dwiatmoko noted that the GPM that is carried out simultaneously in 35 districts and cities in Central Java is a measure to maintain the stability of staple food prices.
According to him, there is no issue in the development of rice prices as they are still relatively stable. In addition, the prices of meat are also relatively safe and under control.
