Low 2018 Inflation Thanks to Govt's Controlling Prices: Minister
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2 January 2019 17:06 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution said the low inflation rate in 2018 did not result from the people’s low purchasing power, but rather the government’s ability to gauge the inflation of the people’s needs, such as food, distribution, transportation and education.
“So if you say it was because of low demands, that was not the case. Because it [inflation rate] was high in the year’s onset, and we tried to slow it down,” Darmin said at the Indonesia Stock Exchange (BEI) Building in Jakarta on Wednesday, January 2, 2019.
Read: Darmin Nasution Projects November Inflation below 3%
The Central Statistics Agency recorded inflation during 2018 reached 3.13 percent—lower than the government’s target of 3.5 percent.
The figure was also lower than that of 2017, which saw 3.61 percent, while January and December of 2018 posted the highest figure of 0.62 percent.
Darmin then recalled the situation in the beginning of 2018 where inflation was rocketing, which prompted worries that the condition would persist. “But then it declined gradually,” he said.
CAESAR AKBAR