Jokowi Instructs SOEs to Off-take Food; Rule Draft in Preparation

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo or Jokowi has ordered the integration of SOEs engaged in food. The merged institution will then act as the off-taker or absorber of production results in society.

The government is now preparing the revision of a number of regulations and low-cost funding mechanisms, which will be conducted in two weeks' time so that the prices of food commodities at the farm level will not decline.

"For the target, the President said that within two weeks we will return again with the draft regulations that have been prepared," Bappenas head Arief Prasetyo Adi said after a meeting with Jokowi at the State Palace, Jakarta, Monday, February 6.

The meeting was also attended by a number of officials and experts, including the Deputy Minister of SOEs. Pahala Mansury; Rector of the Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB). Arif Satria; Special Staff to the President for Economic Affairs; Arif Budimanta; and the president commissioner of PT RNI (Persero) or Food SOE Holding (ID Food), Bayu Krisnamurthi.

Jokowi has prepared two things for the integration of SOEs as off-takers. The first is funding, which will be discussed with SOE Minister Erick Thohir and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

"There will be a budget allocation," said Arief. The funding will be taken from the state budget or cheap funds from the state-owned banks' association, Himbara.

The second aspect of being prepared is infrastructure. This plan will be carried out by Perum Bulog along with ID Food and its members. "So that it can really help by becoming an off-taker for farmers and breeders," he said.

FAJAR PEBRIANTO

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