Indonesia’s consumer inflation rose 0.30 percent month on month in September, Badan Pusat Statistik said, taking the annual rate to 3.28 percent. Calendar-year-to-date inflation stood at 2.17 percent.
Bank Indonesia’s inflation target is 2.5 percent, with a tolerance band of plus or minus one percentage point. The annual rate sits inside that band.
Food prices drive the gap
Volatile food inflation was considerably higher than the headline figure, at 5.03 percent year on year. Higher prices of chili, rice, eggs and broiler chicken meat were the main drivers.
Food prices are the component most exposed to supply shocks. That makes the headline figure harder to read as a clean measure of underlying price pressure.
Central bank holds rate
Bank Indonesia kept its BI-Rate at 5.75 percent at its September board meeting, the RDG. The decision left the policy rate unchanged.
An opinion piece on the data argued that inflation control alone is not enough. It called for food supply early warning systems, regional food reserves and targeted social assistance to protect purchasing power.
Related: Canada August Inflation Rate Holds at 3 Percent · US Annual Inflation Rate Holds at 3.4% in August
Source: Badan Pusat Statistik
