Reviewing consumption rates in the post-pandemic era

Indonesia will make significant changes to its consumption basket with the aim of more effectively measuring consumer price trends and managing inflation. Products that are less commonly purchased, such as DVDs and printed magazines, will be excluded from the consumption basket starting January 2024. These adjustments are intended to capture technological advancements, income shifts, and changes in consumption patterns that have become particularly evident after the pandemic, according to Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, the acting director of the Indonesian statistics office.

This change in the consumption basket comes amid efforts to keep inflation between 1.5% and 3.5% in 2024, a lower band than the 2%-4% target set for this year, reports Bloomberg. Authorities are concerned about volatile food inflation, closely monitoring prices of staple foods such as chilies and onions, affected by distribution problems and the drought caused by El Nino in November.