Jokowi Denies Social Aid Leads to Rice Shortage

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo or Jokowi disclosed several reasons behind the recent rice shortage on the market. He claimed that the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) actually has quite a large supply of rice.

According to him, one of the reasons for the shortage of the staple food was its distribution which was disrupted due to flooding. “This is just a distribution problem, as occurred in Demak,” he said after voting in Gambir, Central Jakarta on February 14.

He denied that the rice shortage in the market was caused by the government's excessive policy of providing rice social assistance (Bansos) to the community. The social aid, he stressed, had nothing to do with the surge in rice prices.

The former governor of Jakarta assessed that social aid has actually helped control the rice price in the market and that the policy is in line with basic economic principles of supply and demand. 

“If the supply is available and well distributed, prices will be controlled,” he claimed.

He hoped that rice prices would decline within the next week or two. When visiting the Cipinang Market, he said rice supplies were abundant and would soon be distributed to retail markets, supermarkets, and other areas.

After an internal meeting at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on February 12, Jokowi ordered the National Food Agency (Bapanas) to divert Bulog's rice stock to the market and prepare strategies to overcome the rice shortage.

RIZKI DEWI AYU | DANIEL A. FAJRI | SULTAN ABDURRAHMAN | ANTARA

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