Golkar against price hike

Golkar against price hike

JAKARTA (JP): The Golkar ruling party will ask the government to revise its recent decision to increase local reference prices of cement by about 40 percent, with an executive saying that it contradicts the government's own policies.

The chief of Golkar's economics division, Warno Hardjo, said yesterday that the substantial increase in cement prices is contradictory to the government's plan to limit inflation levels to a maximum of five percent per annum in the coming five years.

The country's inflation rate reached almost three percent during the first three months of this year alone according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.

Warno said the cement price increase especially contradicts the government's "efforts" to keep the prices of low-cost houses affordable for low-income people. (32)