Vice Governor: Innovation and Collaboration are Essential in Controlling Inflation

The Jakarta administration held the 2022 High-Level Meeting and Capacity Building for the Jakarta Regional Inflation Control Team (TPID), in the Bappeda Blok Pattern Room, Jakarta City Hall, Central Jakarta, on Thursday (7/21).

Collaboration and IT information are essential for inflation control in Jakarta.

On that occasion, Jakarta Vice Governor Ahmad Riza Patria emphasized the importance of increasing collaboration and coordination with various parties in controlling inflation in Jakarta.

"Collaboration and IT information are essential for inflation control in Jakarta. We also need to strengthen coordination with Bank Indonesia in Jakarta, OJK Regional I Jakarta and Banten, Bulog, and so forth," he expressed, as quoted by Jakarta PPID's press release.

BPS: Inflation Rate in June 2022 is Still Relatively Moderate

Then TPID's innovation in controlling the prices of necessities in Jakarta is very much needed considering that regional economic problems will become more complex from year to year. Moreover, the prices of food and energy in the world market rose amid global economic uncertainty. To maintain purchasing power in Jakarta, TPID should be able to keep the prices of necessities under control and stable.

"We need to pay attention to people's purchasing power because sometimes the prices of necessities increase, but their incomes stagnate. That's why collaboration is very important to maintain its price," he explained.

He asserted that collaboration between regions must be improved by utilizing the latest appropriate information technology, among others, to find out potential surpluses, food stocks, and so forth.

"Through BUMD Food Cluster, we have done a lot of inter-regional cooperation with various other regions, especially rice and meat, which need to be improved and made more systematic based on maps of needs and supply potential throughout the year," he asserted.

As known, Jakarta is a barometer of the national economy and a megacity city, economic activity in Jakarta will certainly be a barometer of economic activity for other regions in Indonesia. Jakarta's contribution to the national economy is also the largest, amounting to 17.19%.

"Jakarta's role in maintaining national inflation is very large. It can be seen in the calculation of Bank Indonesia (2020) which states that the weight of Jakarta's inflation to the national level is 27.33%. If inflation in Jakarta is high, it will influence national inflation," he added.

Inflation is expected to rise in 2022. In terms of prices, Jakarta's inflation in 2022 is estimated to be higher than in 2021, in line with improving demand conditions driven by higher economic activity. Based on inflation data from BPS, Java's inflation rate in May 2022 was in the range of the national inflation target and was in a high trend.

"Nevertheless, we are grateful, thanks to the work of TPID and the cooperation of various parties, Jakarta is relatively able to control its inflation. From 6 provinces in Java, until May 2022, we managed to keep inflation within the target of 2.27% (YoY) which is the lowest inflation compared to other provinces in Java," he uttered.

Then spatial inflation as of May 2022 shows Jakarta is in the 2nd lowest position out of 34 provinces in Indonesia, meaning that Jakarta's inflation is still within the national inflation target range and efforts to maintain people's purchasing power can be maintained.

"This achievement is an achievement that must be maintained. That's why hope this forum will further enhance TPID's ability to maintain inflation stability in Jakarta," he closed.