JAKARTA, Jan 19 — Indonesia’s central bank, Bank Indonesia, announced an increase of 25 basis points in benchmark interest rate to 5.75 per cent on Thursday in order to control inflation amid global economic fluctuation, reported Xinhua.
“Bank Indonesia believes the increased interest rate will be sufficient to ensure that core inflation and the consumer price index will return to the target range of two to four per cent in the first half of 2023,” said Governor of Bank Indonesia Perry Warjiyo at a press conference on Thursday.
Since August 2022, Bank Indonesia has raised interest rates by 225 basis points. According to Warjiyo, this has helped to reduce inflation faster than expected.
The consumer price index was 5.51 per cent annually at the end of 2022, which was lower than the estimated 6.5 per cent. Similarly, core inflation was 3.36 per cent, lower than Bank Indonesia’s estimate of 4.61 per cent.
— Bernama
