Indonesia's Dec annual inflation rate at 3.61%, above forecast

[JAKARTA] Indonesia's annual inflation rate in December picked up pace for the first time since June as consumers shopped for year-end holidays, the statistics bureau data showed on Tuesday.

The headline consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.61 per cent in December from a year earlier, compared with a near one-year low of 3.30 per cent in November. Analysts in a Reuters poll forecast annual inflation at 3.40 per cent in December.

The central bank had estimated Indonesia's inflation to be at around 3.0-3.5 per cent by year-end.

On a monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.71 per cent in December.

Prices of food and transportation contributed to the pick-up in inflation, according to the statistics bureau.

The annual core inflation rate, which excludes volatile food and administered prices, was 2.95 per cent in December compared with 3.05 per cent in November.

REUTERS