TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said that the distribution of food commodities is still of the major problems faced by the country. Jokowi asserted that the commodities' long distribution chain remains the main problem for unstable prices.
"We discovered many irregularities. This past two years, things haven't been going right," Jokowi said during a work meeting with the Trade Ministry on Tuesday, February 21, 2017.
In an effort to maintain price stability, the President instructed the Trade Ministry to find the person who manipulated prices along the distribution line. "Check [for perpetrators, carry out field inspection," Jokowi said.
The President hoped that later in the future, there will be transparency in commodity prices being sold in the market. The President added that the Trade Ministry should even create an app to inform people of commodity prices. "Why not [announce the prices] in television, radio, or social media?" Jokowi said.
Meanwhile, Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita, said that it will not be easy to cut off the overly complicated distribution chain of food commodities. Enggartiasto explained that the Trade Ministry has been cooperating with other ministries to educate distributors to sell commodities at a more reasonable price.
"We realized that some of the complicated distribution chains [involve] middlemen," Enggartisto said.
ADITYA BUDIMAN
