Indonesia records 0.11 percent inflation in March

• Apr 01, 2019

Indonesia recorded 0.11 percent month-to-month inflation in March, driven by price increases in the manufactured food, beverage and cigarette category, as foodstuff prices remained relatively stable, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) announced on Monday.

Year-to-date inflation stood at 0.35 percent, while year-on-year (yoy) inflation was recorded at 2.48 percent. In the first quarter of this year, yoy inflation was consistently lower than inflation throughout the same period last year, when it was above 3 percent.

Last month, price increases were seen in the healthcare and clothing categories, which were driven by price increases in gold and jewelry. The two categories recorded inflation at 0.24 percent and 0.23 percent in March respectively.

Meanwhile, foodstuff prices were relatively stable as the category recorded deflation at 0.01 percent, driven by price decreases in rice, chicken meat and fish. Price increases were recorded in shallots, garlic and papaya.

BPS head Suhariyanto said March’s inflation was driven by core inflation, which was recorded at 0.16 percent last month, while volatile food prices deflated 0.02 percent over the same period.

“Core inflation remains high and we can see that volatile food [prices] did not greatly influence [the consumer price index],” Suhariyanto said in Jakarta on Monday.

Suhariyanto, however, highlighted the “unusual” inflation contribution from ticket prices for air travel, which contributed 0.03 percent to last month’s consumer price index.

“Previous patterns indicated that airfares usually contributed to inflation on certain months such as on Idul Fitri or during the holiday season around Christmas and New Year, but in March this year it still contributed to inflation,” he said. (bbn)

Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2019/04/01/indonesia-records-0-11-percent-inflation-in-march.html