Indonesia central bank says 2015 current account deficit of 3% acceptable

[JAKARTA] A current account deficit of 3 per cent of gross domestic product this year would be acceptable, Indonesia's senior central bank deputy governor said on Thursday, adding that onshore demand for dollars was contributing to current weakness in the rupiah.

A deficit of 3 per cent for Indonesia "should be acceptable" because the structure of the country's imports has changed from before, Senior Deputy Governor Mirza Adityaswara told reporters at a conference in Jakarta.

He added that previously, Indonesia's imports were driven largely by fuel demand but now shipments were focused more on capital goods for infrastructure development.

On weakness in the rupiah, he said "We notice many transactions in the local market - local companies - they do them in dollars," adding that this practice had been banned since 2011.

On Thursday, the rupiah fell as much as 0.4 per cent to 13,025 per dollar, its weakest since August 1998.

REUTERS