Indonesia: Poverty Gap Widens Faster as Egg Prices Rising, Economist Predicts

• Aug 26, 2022

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Director of the Center of Economics and Law Studies (Celios) Bhima Yudhistira predicted that the poverty gap will widen more quickly if egg prices continue to skyrocket. The number of poor people will also increase following the hike in the price of basic food needs.

“Chicken eggs contribute 4.12 percent to the poverty line in urban regions. It is higher than instant noodles and shallots,” Bhima told Tempo on Friday, August 26, 2022.

The price of eggs rises to more than Rp30,000 per kilogram. The farmers said it had been predicted for the past three to four months. The government then opted to conduct market operations to anticipate further price hikes.

Bhima assessed that price control measures through market operations would only temporarily dampen the increase. The government should instead track down issues throughout the supply chain, starting from the price of animal feed, the number of laying hens population, to the distribution.

The government must also come up with a solution to balance demand and supply in the long term, the economist added. If there is a shortage of laying hens, he added, farmers need to be assisted with a special capital budget rather than market operations.

Citing the Jakarta Food Information page, the average price of eggs today, August 26, 2022, is still soaring to Rp30,989 per kilogram. The National Strategic Food Price Information Center (PIHPS) also reported that egg prices increased to Rp31,300 per kilogram. The hike has been going on for about three weeks from the original price of around Rp20,000 per kilogram.

RIANI SANUSI PUTRI

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1627053/poverty-gap-widens-faster-as-egg-prices-rising-economist-predicts