/data/photo/2020/01/23/5e29b7d01f1bb.jpg "Impact of Increase in Non-subsidized Gas Prices and Threat of Scarcity of Melon Gas Page all")
KOMPAS.com – Price liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) non-subsidized has increased as of February 27, 2022.
Reported Kompas.com (27/2/2022), price adjustments were made following the development of the oil and gas industry.
Corporate Secretary of PT Pertamina Patra Niaga Irto Ginting explained, the price Contract Price Aramco (CPA) was recorded at 775 US dollars/metric ton.
“Up about 21 percent of the average CPA price throughout 2021,” he explained in an official statement.
Despite going up, Irto himself had confirmed that LPG 3 kg subsidized by the government does not experience price changes.
The price of 3 kg LPG still refers to the highest retail price (HET) set by the local government.
However, increase non-subsidized LPG price causing a number of people to switch to 3 kg of LPG.
As in the news Kompas.com (4/3/2022), Bonifacius, a grocery store owner in the Duren Sawit area, East Jakarta, admitted that many customers have switched to 3 kg LPG.
The same thing was experienced by Ehma, a household consumer in the Cilegon area who began to switch to 3kg LPG.
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Economic observer’s view
Observing the increase in non-subsidized LPG prices, economist and director Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios) Bhima Yudhistira assesses that there will be a shift from non-subsidized LPG users to 3 kg LPG.
This is related to the large number of middle class whose income has not recovered due to the pandemic, while the price difference between subsidized and non-subsidized gas is getting further.
“Many middle class whose income has not fully recovered due to the pandemic, so they have to do various ways to get cheaper LPG,” he told Kompas.com, Sunday (6/3/2022).
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Not to mention, according to Bhima, supervision of 3 kg LPG or gas melon which is relatively loose will make this migration even easier.
Bhima added, due to the current economic easing, the demand for melon gas is also increasing.
Therefore, he asked the government to facilitate so that there is no shortage in the market.
“Because if there can’t be a scarcity, that’s very real, very real. Especially ahead of Ramadan and Eid where demand usually rises high,” he said.
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Officers arrange 3 kg LPG gas cylinders at the Pancoran Mas gas agent, Depok, West Java, Thursday (23/1/2020). The government wants to limit the distribution and price adjustment of 3 kg LPG.-
The existence of migration, is likely to cause a shortage of melon gas in the market.
Bhima explained that there are only two solutions that the government can implement in view of this migration.
Firstis to withstand the rise in LPG prices even further.
“So the adjustment is enough, don’t adjust it again. Because if the non-subsidized LPG is adjusted again, the impact will shift more and more to melon LPG,” suggested Bhima.
Furthermore, Bhima said that the government could use the compensation fund to prevent the increase in non-subsidized LPG prices.
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Secondthe government must increase the allocation of energy subsidies.
According to Bhima, the total energy subsidy in the 2022 State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) is IDR 134 trillion.
He hopes that the subsidy can increase to Rp 180 trillion to Rp 200 trillion.
This is because the impact of rising gas and crude oil prices globally is estimated to be persistent or long enough.
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Don’t apply closed subsidies
Meanwhile, the implementation of closed subsidies as an effort to prevent melon gas scarcity, according to Bhima, is not appropriate to be realized at this time.
In contrast to open subsidies which free anyone to buy, closed subsidies only allow people with certain qualifications.
This is actually detrimental to many parties.
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The reason is, consumers of gas melon are not only the poor, but also MSMEs.
Bhima continued, those who are entitled to gas melons may not get it because the supply is dwindling.
“If you are too hasty to change open subsidies to closed ones, don’t do it now, the momentum is not right. It should have been from yesterday when the LPG price was cheaper,” he added.
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