Jakarta, Cidiss.co – In the context of anticipation in terms of production shortages and delayed planting periods, the government’s strategic policy is considered to be quite anticipatory.
Economics expert at the University of Indonesia (UI), Fithra Faisal Hastadi, said that the social assistance funds disbursed by the government this year have almost reached Rp. 498 trillion, or almost the same as in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This is an anticipatory step for the government to ensure that basic food products do not become too volatile, especially during the most crucial times such as Ramadan and Eid,” said Fithra in an interview with Elshinta radio (13/3).
Fithra also explained that for basic needs, people will definitely continue to spend, so even though the price of rice has increased, the portion of people’s spending will actually increase too.
“In fact, it will be very degrading for lower middle class people. “Because when prices rise, basic needs become the main priority or what is called a shift in public spending which will be more towards staple food, in this case rice,” he explained.
According to him, reliability in reading road map data is important because food security is not just a problem in the short term, it remains a problem in the medium and long term.
“So, this will produce policies both short, medium and long term,” said Fithra.
Previously, explained Fithra, leading international institutions had stated that in 2022 and 2023 there would be an El Niño. And the government has followed up with the right strategy, however the problem that occurs in the field is distribution which still needs to be improved.
“From a budget perspective, social funding assistance should be adequate, but in terms of implementation and execution, it is often a problem,” he said.
In general, Fithra is of the opinion that the government has taken the right steps to anticipate fluctuations in basic commodities and basic necessities, as well as in order to strengthen the national resilience program.