Indonesia's Dec inflation slows more than expected

[JAKARTA] Indonesia's annual inflation rate eased more than expected in December and was close to the lower end of the central bank's target range, data from the statistics bureau showed on Thursday.

The annual inflation rate in December was 2.72 per cent, representing the slowest increase in consumer prices since March. The December pace was also below the 2.9 per cent forecast in a Reuters poll and November's 3 per cent.

The Consumer Price Index rose 0.34 per cent on a monthly basis.

The December annual core inflation rate, which excludes government-controlled and volatile prices, also cooled slightly to 3.02 per cent, from 3.08 per cent in November. The poll had expected a rate of 3.11 per cent.

Inflation had stayed within Bank Indonesia's (BI) target range of 2.5 per cent to 4.5 per cent for most of last year. The central bank targets inflation rate at a range of 2 per cent to 4 per cent in 2020.

REUTERS