Commodity Prices Remain High until 2022: Sri Mulyani

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said that according to the World Economic Outlook released by IMF, commodity prices were estimated to remain high until next year.

"The increase in commodity prices in the World Economic Outlook is expected to remain until 2022," Sri Mulyani said at a press conference on Monday, October 25.

The increase in prices recently occurred in line with an increase in economic activities after the decline in COVID-19 cases in various parts of the world. "Indonesia will face the impact of an increase in its main commodities."

Some of the commodities with possible soaring prices include coal, gas, oil, nickel and palm oil. Besides the positive impact on the economy, however, the surge in prices will also raise the global inflation rate.

"Watch out for inflation as it has increased from 3.5 percent to 4.3 percent. This is a pressure that we must anticipate and beware of," said Sri Mulyani.

Apart from being triggered by commodity prices, inflation is also caused by food prices, supply disruptions, and increased demand. "Therefore, we must keep an eye out for the food price index because it might trigger inflation."

Generally speaking, improvements in the world economy are evident in the better performance of global and Indonesian manufacturing. As of September, the global purchasing managers' index or PMI recorded an expansionary figure of 54.1.

Meanwhile, PMIs in the main countries of the global economy, namely America and Europe, were recorded at 60 and 58.6, respectively. As for Indonesia, the expansion of manufacturing activities can be seen from its PMI of 52.2.

"This means global manufacturing activities have increased significantly," said Sri Mulyani. "The global PMI until September is still expansive as COVID became more controllable but it does not mean the Delta variant and COVID have ended." 

Read: Sri Mulyani Says Indonesia's Economy Recovering as Expected

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