South Kalimantan's inflation falls to 4.35 percent: Governor

Banjarmasin, S Kalimatan (ANTARA) - South Kalimantan Governor H Sahbirin Noor announced that year-on-year inflation in August 2023 stood at 4.36 percent decreasing from previously 7.35 percent.

"It is compared to September 2022 when peak inflation in the province reached 7.35 percent (yoy), meaning it has down quite significantly," he said at the Regional Inflation Control Teams (TPID) coordination meeting in Banjarmasin, Monday.

According to the Governor, capaian yang sangat baik itu thank to the hard work and synergy of all who joined the TPID.

"In the last one year, we consistently made various concrete efforts to maintain supply and stable food prices, as well as protecting people from the impact of price increase in the form of market operatins and low-price market," he remarked.

Governor emphasized the importance of synergy and collaboration among all TPID throughout South Kalimantan to anticipate the impact of El-Nino which triggers an increae in food prices.

Especially, said the governor, who familiarly called Uncle Birin, since 19 countries restricted exports of food products thereby encouraging food price appreciation at the global level.

He then gave three direction. First, integration of stock data and regional food balance to check food availability.

"Through stock data we can anticipate food shortage in a region. In that context, we all need to encourage inter-regional cooperation to continue to be improve to the business to business (b-to-b) level for price stabilization," he said.

Second, said Governor, always check stock food availability in the markets.

"Immediately take necessary action and decisions if encounter a shortage of commodity in the market. It is also necessary to increase regional food reserve to anticipate a longer dry season," he pointed out.

In hios third directions, the Governor urged optimalization of use of regional fiscal for price stabilization.

He also committed to maintan the availability of food stock by continuing to encourage innovation in the agriculture and livestock to further develop.

He gave the example of floating rice cultivation. "The potential for developing floating rice is very high in South Kalimantan considering the swamp area is so large, reaching 290,000 hectares. This cound be a solution to overcome the impact of El Nino that today occurring in all parts of the world," said Governor Sahbirin Noor.