Jokowi Asks Indonesians to Be Grateful for Stable Rice Prices amid Food Crisis

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo called on the people to be grateful because the rice price in Indonesia is not increased amid the global food crisis due to the war between Ukraine and Russia.

“Food prices increase all over the world. Some have gone up by 30 percent, 50 percent. Fortunately, alhamdulillah, our people who are mainly farmers are still producing rice and so far the price has not increased. Hopefully, it won't increase,” said the President in his speech on the 29th National Family Day as broadcasted on the Presidential Secretariat’s Youtube channel, Thursday, July 7, 2022.

He stated that Indonesia’s current stock of rice is still sufficient. He also claimed that the country had not imported rice over the past three years.

“We usually import 1.5 million tons, 2 million tons, but now we no longer import it. The Minister of Agriculture is here, thank you, Pak Minister,” the state head remarked.

According to the president, countries that have wheat as their staple are dealing with a food crisis because the largest wheat-producing countries, Russia and Ukraine, are at war.

Indonesia would also experience a shortage of wheat as it routinely imports the commodity from the two countries. However, Jokowi continued to invite the people to be grateful because the country’s staple food stock is sufficient.

M JULNIS FIRMANSYAH 

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