Rice Price Hike in February Anomalous, Says President
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Rabu, 25 Februari 2015 16:44 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – President Joko Widodo has said that the rice price hike in February is anomalous, and that the government will launch market operations to cope with it.
“We are going to distribute 20,000 tons of rice, on the condition that we will supply the rice to markets in need of it,” he said when inspecting a State Logistics Agency (Bulog) warehouse in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta on Wednesday, February 25, 2015.
The president said the amount of the rice—locally known as raskin (rice for the deprived)—to be distributed this month reached 300,000 tons. The president has asked Bulog to complete distributing raskin this week to keep rice supplies in check ahead of the grand harvest, which is projected to take place in March.
Jokowi visited the Bulog warehouse with Coordinating Minister for the Economy Sofyan Djalil, Trade Minister Rachmat Gobel, State Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno and Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa.
