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egency and city administrations across Bali agreed on Wednesday to form regional inflation-controlling teams (TPIDs) in their respective regions to minimize the impact of inflation and enhance the island'€™s competitiveness as an international tourist destination.

Nine regents and mayors across the province have jointly committed to anticipate inflation, which is already high.

An institution with a similar purpose did previously exist at provincial level, but its focus on strengthening inter-province distribution and connectivity, issuing regulations, conducting research and providing information, was not ideal as some issues fell under the jurisdiction of both regency and municipal administrations.

TPIDs, initiated by Bank Indonesia (BI), involve many institutions, including the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) and relevant agencies at provincial and regency level.

BI Deputy Governor Hendar said the central bank and the central government, through the Home Ministry, had urged each province, regency and city to form TPIDs.

'€œIn principle, TPIDs should be available in every province and if need be in regencies and cities, especially strategic regions where the price of basic needs fluctuate, such as Bali. This should meet the needs of residents and millions of tourists arriving throughout the year. These needs cannot be met alone, as the supply, distribution and information regarding commodities must be managed together to make prices stable,'€ said Hendar.

He added that economic stability, especially controlled inflation, would have an impact on Bali'€™s competitiveness as an international tourist destination.

Bali'€™s inflation rate this year is expected to be lower than last, given the lessening impact of the subsidized fuel-price increase.

In January, Bali recorded deflation of 0.17 percent, with its annual inflation rate remaining around 6.98 percent year-on-year.

Bali'€™s main competitors in the ASEAN region, namely Malaysia and Thailand, tend to have low, stable inflation rates '€” below 3 percent in the past five years.

Hendar said that in line with the middle-term development plan, Indonesia expected the inflation rate to hover between 4.5 and 4.74 percent.

He went on that stability would be very helpful in determining the price of goods and services offered to domestic and overseas tourist markets.

The island'€™s economic growth in the past three years has been above national level.

In 2014, it was recorded at 6.72 percent and was projected to grow to between 6.5 and 7.1 percent this year, because of progress in the tourist industry, strong consumption, improved exports and an improved investment climate.

Hendar said despite Bali'€™s improved inflation rate, the island still faced the challenge of controlling inflation.

In the past five years, Bali'€™s average inflation rate has been 6.53 percent, above the national average of 6.36 percent.

This was attributed to volatile food prices, which could not be separated from other conditions in the province, marked by limited supply, infrastructure, market structure and trading patterns that were less than optimal, he said.

Bali'€™s growth in foreign tourist arrivals in the last three years is recorded at 11.07 percent, encouraging an increase in food consumption.

On the other hand, growth in the tourist sector has led to an increase in farmland conversion, with crop production decreasing.

Between 2010 and 2014, harvest areas declined to 152,190 hectares (ha), an average of 1,700 ha annually.