CIDISS. The election of regional head elections simultaneously in 2018 which recently took place was considered unable to boost public consumption and encourage economic growth both in the region and nationally. The Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) researchers concluded it was based on inflation data for June 2018 of 0.59%.
Researcher Indef Esa Suryaningrum said, monthly inflation in June 2018 compared to the same period last year which amounted to 0.69%, growth is quite small. However, based on data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), inflation in May 2018 was recorded at 0.21%. Thus, a surge in inflation rose to 0.38%.
The spike occurred because prices in the transport sector and foodstuffs could not be effectively controlled. Inflation in transportation increased dramatically in June 2018 to 1.50% from 0.18% in the preceding month.
Meanwhile, the inflation of the foodstuff category in June 2018 to 0.88% from the previous month by 0.21%. With this high inflation spike, Esa actually assessed the purchasing power of the community actually weakened.
With the weakening of purchasing power, making the consumption sector unaffected cumulatively. “As a result, the influence of holidays and elections can not provide an optimal contribution to economic growth in the second quarter of 2018,” said Esa.
However, it can not be denied that the implementation of local election has been well implemented and minimal disturbance. Indeed there are still some areas where the implementation of the election is hampered, delayed, even there is a demand for re-election. Furthermore, there are even a number of regions whose regional head candidates are against empty boxes. However, its implementation can be done safely and peacefully. For this, we must appreciate the performance of the government and hope it can be continued in all other work programs. Hopefully with this, Indonesia can be better.
By: Mirwan Achmad *)
