Indonesia's August inflation picks up, but stays below market expectation

[JAKARTA] Indonesia's annual inflation rate picked up slightly in August but was below market expectation and remained within the central bank's target range, data from the statistics bureau showed on Monday.

Consumer prices rose 3.20 per cent in August from a year earlier, compared with July's annual inflation rate of 3.18 per cent. Analysts surveyed by Reuters had expected a rate of 3.33 per cent.

Bank Indonesia (BI) targets inflation rate in the range of 2.5 per cent to 4.5 per cent this year.

The consumer price index was down 0.05 per cent on a monthly basis due to a drop in food prices, such as that of chicken and chillies, Suhariyanto, head of statistics bureau, told a news briefing.

The annual core inflation rate, which excludes prices of government-controlled goods and volatile food, also edged up to 2.90 per cent in August, the second month of acceleration and higher than the poll's estimate of 2.85 per cent.

BI governor Perry Warjiyo has said the rupiah's slump had not affected prices at least until July. The rupiah has lost nearly 8 percent of its value so far this year and on Monday it was trading at its weakest in 20 years.

REUTERS