Amelia Rahima Sari, Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investments Luhut Pandjaitan said on his personal Instagram post that the recent high temperatures in a number of Indonesian regions, caused by the El Nino phenomenon, could potentially spark inflation.

In his social post dated April 26, the Minister cited the World Meteorology Organization (WMO) and mentioned the La Nina which has taken place for the past three years and putting an end to damp weather.

"In exchange, the El Nino will bring higher temperatures that will be dryer," Luhut wrote on April 26.

Based on the data he obtained, Luhut said the sea temperature has also reached its highest record since 2016. Not to mention the heatwave that pushed record-high temperatures in Asia recently.

"From the weather modeling we obtained, El Nino is predicted to occur in August 2023 although the uncertainty in the severity of El Nino is still very high," Luhut warned.

Reflecting on what happened in 2015, he said, El Nino has the potential to cause extensive impacts caused by drought, such as land and forest fires.

"This certainly correlates to the decline in agricultural and mining production based on IMF data. Not to mention the broad impact on Indonesia's inflation due to the large contribution of food inflation to overall inflation," Luhut said.

He argues that an estimated 41 percent of paddy fields experienced extreme drought in that year. After data suggested by the World Food Program, Luhut said three out of five households had lost income due to the drought, and one out of five households had to reduce spending on food due to drought alone.

Luhut Pandjaitan urged government organizations to start preparing as soon as possible and take into account the steps to avert the crisis that Indonesia experienced in 2015.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1719166/luhut-pandjaitan-says-high-temperature-could-spark-inflatio