Indonesia inflation rate picks up to 3.49% in Jan

[JAKARTA] Indonesia's annual inflation rate accelerated in January, mainly due to increases in the prices of processed food and drinks as well as cigarettes, the statistics bureau said on Wednesday.

January's annual headline rate was 3.49 per cent, the bureau said, higher than the 3.11 per cent expected in a Reuters poll and December's 3.02 per cent.

The consumer price index rose 0.97 per cent on a monthly basis.

Core inflation, which strips out administered and volatile food prices, also picked up in January, to 3.35 per cent from 3.07 per cent the previous month. That was the highest annual pace since July, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon data.

Indonesia's central bank targets annual inflation to be between 3 per cent and 5 per cent this year.

REUTERS