Jakarta, Feb. 17 -- Minister of Home Affairs Muhammad Tito Karnavian on Monday urged local governments to monitor the prices of several commodities ahead of the Ramadan month.

He made the statement here in response to data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), which showed an increase in the prices of certain goods in some regions during the second week of February 2025.

For example, he informed, the price of red chili has increased in 196 districts/cities, cooking oil in 166 districts/cities, and granulated sugar prices in 148 districts/cities.

"The commodities we need to pay attention to are red chili, cooking oil, sugar, cayenne pepper, and garlic," Karnavian said here on Monday.

He then encouraged people to grow cayenne pepper in their...