Indonesia: Inflation reaches 0.19% as of third week of February: BI

• Feb 28, 2018

Bank Indonesia has expressed support for the government’s decision to import rice to push down the price of the commodity, which has retailed above government-set price ceilings since December.

According to the central bank’s latest price monitoring survey, monthly inflation reached 0.19 percent as of the third week of February.

“I only see the data up to the third week, which is estimated to reach 0.19 percent month on month in February. Fourth-week data is not yet available,” said BI Governor Agus Martowardojo during the High Level Conference Annual Meeting 2018 in Jakarta on Tuesday, as reported by kontan.co.id.

He said inflation was currently pushed by various factors, particularly the increasing prices of food ingredients and staples like garlic, red chili and rice.

He expressed his confidence, however, that the inflation monitoring team (TPI) could contain the inflation rate in the range of 4 to 5 percent this year.

Besides volatile food prices, inflation risks also stem from the increase in global oil prices.

“The subsidized fuel prices do not change, but the prices of non-subsidized fuels have been adjusted. There is a risk of this affecting the inflation rate,” he said, adding that the BI board of directors had acknowledged the possible impact of the increasing oil prices on inflation in their latest meeting.

He also said the weakening rupiah exchange rate against the US dollar could also contribute to inflation. “But the inflation rate will still be in the range of 3.5 percent plus minus 1 percent,” he added. (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/02/27/inflation-reaches-0-19-as-of-third-week-of-february-bi.html