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)