Market prices increase slightly
Tantri Yuliandini and Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Expecting a sharp increase in the price of most basic commodities in the market, Kamdiyah, 47, was relieved to find that the increases were only up to 20 percent at the most.
Traders usually slightly increase prices prior to the fasting month, Idul Fitri and New Year holidays, but with the recent fuel prices hike of over 126 percent, the woman had initially decided not to shop much on Tuesday.
"I thought the price increase would reach at least 50 percent because public transportation fares have increased by around 50 percent now," Kamdiyah, a resident of Kebayoran Lama Utara subdistrict, South Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post.
It is a tradition for Muslim families to prepare special meals the night before the beginning of the fasting month, which starts on Wednesday, and to stock food supplies and delicacies to break the fast.
A trader in Kebayoran Lama traditional market, Ori, said that they could not increase the prices any higher "because the prices had been increased even before the government announced the fuel prices hike on Oct. 1".
The price of commodities in the market increased by some 15 percent on average in mid September soon after the government said that it would increase fuel prices in October.
The government announced new fuel prices on Oct. 1 -- gasoline increased from Rp 2,400 to Rp 4,500, diesel fuel from Rp 2,100 to Rp 4,300 and kerosene from 700 to Rp 2,000.
Unlike previous years where buyers increased days before the fasting month, meat markets were quiet in the past few days.
But Abas, 53, a meat trader in Kebayoran Lama market, said that the price of meat had significantly increased from the usual Rp 44,000 to Rp 48,000 per kilogram to between Rp 50,000 and Rp 55,000 per kilogram.
"I have to pay an additional Rp 300,000 for transportation for each of the cows I bought from Bali," he told the Post.
Although many Jakartans found the prices of basic commodities at the market still affordable, the wives of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Cabinet members took the initiative to sell food packages at lower prices for the poor.
Working together under the banner of Solidarity of the Wives of the United Indonesia Cabinet (SIKIB), they said on Tuesday that the sale of a total of 15,000 food packages would be held next Friday and Oct. 20.
"We understood that raising fuel prices was a tough decision for the government to make, and that it was made with a heavy heart. And so we are here to show our solidarity with those who are hit harder by the rise than us," said Erna Witoelar, wife of State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar.
Each food packet -- consisting of three kilograms of rice, 10 packs of instant noodles, sweet soy sauce, cooking oil and one kilogram of sugar -- will be sold at Rp 10,000 (about US$0.97) each. At normal market prices the goods cost between Rp 30,000 and Rp 35,000 each.
SIKIB was initiated by First Lady Kristiani three days after the tsunami in Aceh to help rebuild the province. It was first funded by the members, and as the word spread, by private and group donors.