Indonesians celebrate the holy month of Ramadan amid rising prices

Tensions in Ukraine have caused inflation in the world in general and in Southeast Asia to rise. In February alone, inflation in the ASEAN region increased by 3%. Economists even forecast this year the region could record the highest inflation in a decade. In which, Indonesia is considered to have the strongest price increase. This is making life more difficult for the people of this country when the fasting month of Ramadan has begun.

From today, the people of Indonesia begin to enter holy month of Ramadan, one of the important holidays of Muslims. This is an occasion when people often go to the busy market to shop and stock up on essential items for this holiday. However, unlike previous years, the number of visitors to the markets in Jakarta is more sparse.

Mr. Asep – The butcher said: “The number of buyers this year has decreased significantly, possibly because the prices of daily essentials have increased. Since last month, prices have started to increase and have not decreased.”

Usually food prices in Indonesia also inched up a bit before the holy month of Ramadan. But this year, plus the price of many food items in the world increased due to lack of supply from Russia and Ukraine, causing the prices of some items to increase sharply, such as cooking oil.

Despite difficulties caused by rising prices, people in the country with the largest Muslim population in the world still hope that things will get better during the holy month of Ramadan.

Mr. Muhammad Syakil – 49 years old said: “We hope in the month of Ramadan, everything will be back to the way it was before the pandemic. We hope our economy improves.”

To protect consumers against rising food prices, the Ministry of Finance recently announced that it will spend 154 trillion rupiah, about 14.7 billion USD from the social protection budget. The government is working to mitigate increased risks by keeping food inflation in the 3-5% range. At the same time, the pledge will ensure the supply and distribution of food to people during the holy month of Ramadan.

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