Oil Prices Lowers, Sri Mulyani: No Certainty When It Will Go Up or Lower

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati mentioned that global oil prices remain fluctuating despite the recent decrease.

"Currently we saw oil price decrease, but we are not certain when it will go up again or it will continue to decrease even further," Minister Sri Mulyani said in the Bloomberg Recovery and Resilience event in Jakarta on Monday, September 12, 2022.

According to Sri, the government's decision to increase fuel prices by an average of 30 percent is correct considering the increase of global fuel prices by up to USD 100 per barrel.

Sri added that increasing fuel prices helps in maintaining the state budget, which will suffer more encumbrance if fuel subsidy continues to be applied.

"I think the measures that we have taken to adjust fuel prices last week is enough to at least secure the state budget," Sri Mulyani said.

Sri added however, that the government has decided to provide additional aid in an effort to maintain the people's purchasing power in the middle of the potential increase in various commodity prices.

The decision to provide additional aid is in line with the government's policy to maintain economic recovery momentum by maintaining the public's purchasing power while at the same time keeping the state budget secure, credible, and sustainable in the medium-long term.

In relation to such matter, Sri stated, that the government has managed to achieve three goals, which are to protect the people by providing subsidies, maintaining economic recovery which is expected to continue in the third quarter, and saving and maintaining the state budget.

ANTARA

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