Bulog 'to resume' businesses 'closed' by IMF
Bulog 'to resume' businesses 'closed' by IMF
JAKARTA (JP): New head of the National Logistics Agency
(Bulog) Widjanarko Puspoyo said on Friday he would ask the
government to allow the agency to resume its former commodity
businesses that had been closed at the request of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Widjanarko said his request was justified by the Food Law No.
7/1996.
"As stipulated in the law, our job is to provide basic and
essential foodstuff in adequate supply, of good quality, at an
affordable price, and which is easily available.
"Therefore, Bulog should be given wider duties, and clearer
responsibilities," Widjanarko told the press following his
installment as head of Bulog, replacing Coordinating Minister for
the Economy, Rizal Ramli.
Bulog is responsible for the price stabilization of unhusked
rice and the distribution of rice.
When first established in the late 1960s, Bulog held the
monopoly on the importation of rice, wheat, sugar, soybeans, and
several other basic commodities.
However, this exclusive role was put into an end by the
government in early 1998 following a request made by the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), which organized a multibillion
dollar bailout loan for the country.
"Bulog is responsible for the availability of food in the
country. Thus, its role can't not be cut just because of
international pressure," Widjanarko said.
The former vice chairman of the House of Representative's
Commission III for agriculture and food affairs said that at this
stage he was unable to specify the commodity businesses he
expected Bulog to revive.
Widjanarko also said he would ask the government to restore
the agency's former exclusive right of distributing rice to civil
servants, the military and police.
The role of distributing rice to civil servants had been
revoked in 1999.
He said the agency lost a lot of buyers because of the policy
and it incurred higher costs for rice storage.
Widjanarko vowed to make the agency more dynamic, flexible,
and less bureaucratic to make way for free competition.
He said he supported the government's plan to change Bulog
from a nonprofit making agency into a profit-oriented state
company, saying the change in the status would make Bulog more
competitive in the international market.
Former Bulog chief, Rizal Ramli said last year that he planned
to turn Bulog into a state company by June this year to improve
its performance.
Regarding rice prices, Widjanarko said the agency would not
let rice prices be totally determined by free market forces in an
effort to protect farmers' interests.
"We still need to maintain the set floor-price policy on rice
to protect farmers' earnings, which in turn would ensure the
availability of food in their homes," he said.
Widjanarko said that Bulog rice stock was adequate for the
country's consumption throughout this year and that there was no
need for rice imports.
The total stock of rice in Bulog's warehouses as of March 20
was at 800,000 tons. (tnt)