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Indonesia: BI sees room for more easing to jack up weakening economy
Indonesia’s central bank sees “ample” room for both monetary and macroprudential policy easing as the coronavirus is seen dragging down Indonesia’s economic growth in the first quarter.
Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor Perry Warjiyo said Wednesday that unlike developed countries, Indonesia had the luxury of various fiscal and monetary measures to stimulate the economy.
The statement follows the US Federal Reserve’s surprise policy rate cut of half a percentage point to a target range of 1 percent to 1.25 percent in an attempt to shield the world’s largest economy from the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak.
“There are still plenty of BI instruments from BI’s five main instruments that we can use,” Perry briefed media leaders at BI headquarters in Jakarta.
He cited room for a lower reserve requirement ratio for both the US dollar and local currency for local banks, as well as mentioning the policy rate as a possible easing measure to jack up growth, which is expected to slow down to 4.9 percent in the first quarter, compared with a three-year low of 4.97 percent in the final quarter of 2019.
BI cut its benchmark interest rate, the seven-day reverse repo rate, by 25 basis points in February and announced on Monday five measures to stabilize the financial market and prop up the rupiah, including cutting the reserve ratio to free up billions of dollars in the domestic banking industry that could support the financial market as well as export-import activities severely hit by the coronavirus outbreak.
Foreign investors dumped a net Rp 30.8 trillion (US$2.17 billion) on Indonesian assets through February until Feb. 27, of which Rp 26.2 trillion was in government bonds and Rp 4.1 trillion in stocks, said Perry.
“The difference with other countries is that BI is not doing this [supporting economic growth] alone. There‘s fiscal stimulus being carried out by the government and other financial system protection measures by the OJK [Financial Services Authority],” he said.
“Going forward, the direction of BI’s monetary stance will continue to be accommodative,” Perry added.
The BI board of governors will meet on March 18 and 19 to determine the direction of monetary policy going forward, including on policy rate.
Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/03/04/bi-sees-room-for-more-easing-to-jack-up-weakening-economy.html