TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Deputy Minister of Agriculture Rusman Heriawan has promised to review the restriction on garlic imports. He said the import restriction of horticulture products – including garlic, had caused garlic prices in the market to jump to more than Rp40,000 per kilogram. Rusman said that in the second half of this year the government will review the scale of the garlic import restriction. The reason, he said, is because Indonesia has a small number of garlic farmers with a limited production capacity. "The supply of national garlic only accounts for 10 percent of the national demand at most. If (the import) limited, who is it that we are protecting?" Rusman said Tuesday, March 5. The deputy minister expects that garlic prices will return to normal once the Horticultural Products Import Recommendation (RIPH) has been determined for garlic. He said the ministry is currently reviewing the import quota of each importer to ensure it is proportionate. Rusman also said that he hopes that garlic will no longer drive inflation this month. In February, garlic price increases contributed 0.12 percent towards inflation. BERNADETTE CHRISTINA