Trade Minister to Allow Chili Imports in June

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Trade Minister Rachmat Gobel plans to allow chili imports in June 2015 amid insufficient local stocks and high domestic demands, which have sent prices creeping towards the roof. 

Gobel said the decision was made in consultation with the Minister for Agriculture, Amran Sulaiman. "The prices of chili have begun to climb due to low supplies," said Gobel, who spoke at a discussion in Jakarta on Monday, June 8, 2015. 

The minister said he would allow imported chilies to start flowing into the domestic market if no significant increase in stocks was observed by the end of June. The decision is observed in order to avoid prices from climbing to highs as seen in 2014, where chilli prices shot up to Rp130,000 per kilogram. 

An economist for the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Latif Adam, said that Gobel's plans to allow imports of several basic necessities were a little too late, especially considering that price increases had already been evident. 

Latif said the ministry should have enough data to intervene before prices begin to rise. "The lack of such data would cause delays in intervention, and this is highly problematic," Latif told Tempo on Friday, June 5, 2015. 

Latif also called on the government to make their interventions more timely, especially since their unpreparedness had reflected on the monthly inflation figure for Indonesia, which was released by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS). The government's ability to map its needs in a timely manner, continued Latif, should be scrutinized. 

Bank Indonesia's (BI) spokesperson Peter Jacobs, meanwhile, said that high inflation could still be averted if the government kept up its ability to meet the market's demands for goods, and that the Trade Minister's plans to allow imports could abate the risk for inflation. "Higher supply levels could help keep inflation in check," said Jacobs. 

URSULA FLORENE SONIA