Indonesia’s inflation stays within central bank range in Aug By Reuters

By Stefanno Sulaiman and Gayatri Suroyo

JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesia’s annual inflation rate was 2.12% in August, essentially unchanged from 2.13% in July, official data showed on Monday, holding comfortably within the central bank’s target range and matching market expectations.

The August headline inflation rate was the lowest since February 2022, and matched the forecast in a Reuters poll. Bank Indonesia (BI) has a target range of 1.5% to 3.5% for inflation.

The annual core inflation rate edged up to 2.02% last month from 1.95% in July, the data showed, slightly above the 1.98% forecast in the poll.

Inflation in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy has held within the central bank’s target range since the middle of last year, but BI has kept interest rates relatively high to focus on anchoring the rupiah currency and weathering global market volatility. Governor Perry Warjiyo has said currency stability was the policy focus for this quarter, but he saw a room for a monetary policy easing to boost economic growth in the next quarter.