Govt to open cost-effective grocery stores across Indonesia next year

Jakarta, June 25 (Antara) - The government will open inexpensive grocery stores across the country next year to sell food items such as rice, sugar, shallots, cooking oil, and chili in order to curb price hikes in the market. "In the future, the government will open inexpensive grocery stores across Indonesia that will operate throughout the year," Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman stated here on Thursday while officiating another market operation in Kramat Jati Main Market. It will not be necessary for the government to launch market operation activities ahead or during Ramadan, Eid al-Fitri, or Christmas when such grocery stores exist, he stated. The inexpensive grocery stores will be set up in cooperation with the National Logistics Agency (Bulog), the agriculture ministry, the trade ministry, the transportation ministry, and the state enterprises ministry. Bulog will operatore the grocery stores, the trade ministry will monitor the prices, the transportation ministry will ensure that the supplies arrive on time, and the agriculture ministry will maintain the production of commodities. Chairman of the House of Representatives' Commission IV Edy Prabowo has voiced his support to the plan to open inexpensive grocery stores to maintain price stability. An institution will be set up in October to decide the prices of all basic commodities, he stated. "With the existence of such an institution, the prices of basic commodities will not be dependent on the market, and hence, the prices will be stable," he remarked. He also reminded the government to manage the rice stock, which is now decreasing. In order to stabilize the increasing prices of basic necessities in the current fasting month, the government is launching market operations. Minister Sulaiman remarked that with the launch of the market operations, the government was able to bring down the price of shallots to Rp18 thousand-Rp20 thousand per kilogram (kg) from the previous high of Rp76 thousand per kg. The market operations are being conducted across the country in markets that sell basic necessities such as rice, sugar, cooking oil, shallots, and red chili.