Bank Indonesia and Government Strengthen Food Inflation Control Strategies
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Acting Governor of Bank Indonesia (BI), Destry Damayanti, stated that the central bank, alongside central and regional governments, is continuously strengthening cooperation to maintain food price stability in order to control regional inflation.
One of the key strategies involves managing food inflation through the Regional Inflation Control Teams (TPID).
“Volatile food inflation is currently rising. Therefore, BI, together with regional and central governments, is handling programmes for food inflation control,” said Destry when met at the Parliament Complex, Jakarta, on Tuesday.
According to her, the increase in inflation is a shared concern because volatile food components are heavily influenced by the supply conditions and prices of food commodities.
“If we look at core inflation, it remains stable and has even increased slightly, meaning there is economic activity moving from 2.7 per cent to 2.9 per cent. However, volatile food has risen from around 2 per cent to 4 per cent. Thus, it is our collective task to maintain food price stability,” she added.
Destry noted that controlling inflation, particularly regarding volatile food components, cannot be achieved by the central bank alone. The government must also intervene from the supply side to ensure the availability and stability of food prices.
Based on data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), Indonesia experienced a monthly inflation rate of 0.21 per cent (month-to-month) in August 2026. This inflation was reflected in the rise of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from 111.73 in July 2026 to 111.97 in August 2026.
August 2026 inflation was primarily driven by volatile food, which experienced an inflation rate of 0.88 per cent, contributing 0.15 per cent to headline inflation.
Commodities that significantly contributed to inflation within this component include broiler chicken, bird’s eye chilli, and rice.
Within the food, beverage, and tobacco group, broiler chicken contributed 0.17 per cent to inflation. Meanwhile, bird’s eye chilli, fresh fish, and rice each contributed 0.02 per cent.
Additionally, long beans, green beans, sweet corn, cucumber, watermelon, machine-rolled clove cigarettes (SKM), and machine-rolled white cigarettes (SPM) each contributed 0.01 per cent.
Meanwhile, core inflation in August 2026 was recorded at 0.21 per cent, with a contribution of 0.13 per cent. Dominant commodities contributing to this inflation included gold jewellery, lubricants or engine oil, mobile phones, and academy or university tuition fees.
As for government-regulated prices (administered prices), they experienced deflation of 0.33 per cent, with a deflationary contribution of 0.07 per cent. This deflation was primarily driven by air transport fares and petrol.
During the same period, the transport group experienced deflation of 0.50 per cent, with a deflationary contribution of 0.06 per cent. Air transport fares contributed 0.06 per cent to deflation, while petrol contributed 0.03 per cent.