Majalengka: Waiting for the breaking of their fast during the Islamic month of Ramadan, the clergy gathered in the Indonesian town of Majalengka to unusual briefing on the issue of inflation, led by the country’s central bank.
The letter of the Islamic Central Bank and clergy official at the Islamic Center in the city was part of the Indonesian Bank’s strategy of recruiting preachers to warn of excessive consumption during Ramadan, which can lead to price pressure in a country with a history of fugitive inflation.
Although inflation has been controlled in the past decade, as the authorities have attributed efforts to enhance the distribution of food along the supply chain, the central bank is keen to spread its mission on the need to maintain prices.
“We hope that Ulemas (scholars of Islam) are mediators to convey the message saying that the inflation management is our common mission,” said Agong Putilaxono, the main central bank official of Majalengka.
“You must be managed by inflation, because it looks like blood pressure … if it is very high, it will destroy your health in the long run, and if it is very low, you will become weak,” he told the cleric.
Ramadan ends with the Eid Al -Fitr Festival, which, as in other Islamic countries, usually represents the peak of demand in Indonesia, where Muslims constitute the majority of the 280 million population.
Islamic clergy are influential among the public in remote areas of Indonesia and towns such as Majalengka in West Java, about three hours from the capital, Jakarta.
“People tend to want more during Ramadan, so we may need to remind them again that the goal of fasting is to control our lust,” said Mohamed Hashail, 53, a clergyman who listens in the forum.
The inflation was hot in the largest economy in Southeast Asia, but in 2024 it was 1.57 %, near the lower end of the target scope of the Central Bank, while the West Java rate was 1.64 %.
The rate decreased in the first two months of 2025 due to a significant increase in electricity subsidies, and economists expect to remain within the target scope of the Central Bank by 1.5 % to 3.5 % this year.
The Central Bank has managed other non -traditional initiatives, including Podcast, on spending on management and programs to enhance entrepreneurship in addition to increasing local food supplies.
At Santi Asromo Islamic Islamic School, it helped build a greenhouse for students to grow Chinese cabbage and water spinach, and build a fish farm for the neighboring school.
