Final Seminar on the Regional Inflation Control Roadmap of Banggai Regency

Luwuk, December 4, 2025 — The Banggai Regency Government held the Final Seminar on the Regional Inflation Control Roadmap as part of efforts to strengthen strategies for managing inflation in the region. The event was attended by the Deputy Regent of Banggai, the Regional Secretary, the Chair of the Roadmap Study Team Prof. Patta Tope and his team, as well as heads and representatives of Regional Apparatus Organizations (OPD).

In his opening remarks, the Deputy Regent emphasized that inflation remains a major concern of the local government as it is closely linked to the stability of essential commodity prices. Although Banggai Regency is recorded as a surplus rice-producing area, rice has become the highest contributor to inflation. This condition arises because most of Banggai’s production is supplied to other regions such as Gorontalo and North Sulawesi, causing prices to rise locally.

The Deputy Regent explained that high prices may benefit farmers but can burden consumers. He added that Banggai has not yet fully become a rice producer, but is still at the stage of producing unhulled rice (gabah), as the region has no large-scale rice mills. “So far, unhulled rice is sent to Makassar for processing, and it returns to Banggai in the form of rice,” he said. The local government plans to submit a proposal to the National Food Agency (Bapanas) to build a large-scale rice mill in Banggai to strengthen the supply chain.

Presentation of the Roadmap by Prof. Patta Tope

Prof. Patta Tope, the lead researcher, presented the final results of the regional inflation control roadmap. He emphasized that inflation is especially impactful for fixed-income households and may increase the number of people living in poverty.

In his presentation, Prof. Tope outlined commodities contributing to inflation both year-on-year (yoy) and month-to-month (mtm). He also explained the use of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) through pairwise comparison matrices to determine policy priorities.

According to him, although many programs could mitigate inflation, limited regional budget capacity requires prioritization. In accordance with Ministry of Home Affairs regulations, four policy categories were tested for priority ranking:

1. Supply-related activities
2. Distribution-related activities
3. Price accessibility activities
4. Effective communication activities

Prof. Tope also underscored that to achieve the inflation target of 2.5% ± 1%, the local government may need to place special focus on controlling rice prices. Measures already taken include weekly market operations, transportation subsidies, and restrictions on inter-regional distribution. Moving forward, Bank Indonesia is prepared to support an increase in the frequency of low-cost markets to three times a week—every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Perspective from Banggai Regency BPS

A representative from the Statistics Indonesia (BPS) Banggai Regency Office, Indra Prasetyo Wibowo, S.ST., M.P.W.P., also shared his views on inflation trends in Luwuk. He highlighted the importance of considering supply aspects, especially with the addition of a new national program from the President—MBG—with 17 SPPG units in Banggai Regency, the same number as in Palu City.

According to him, from the production perspective, Banggai Regency is relatively strong, but improvements are needed in distribution and price information transparency. “So far, consumers only receive the price without any information being disseminated. Regardless of the price, consumers will keep buying,” he explained. He added that the MBG program has increased demand, which in turn affects market prices.