Inflation Acceleration Reaches Fastest Pace in 20 Months
Jakarta. Inflation in Indonesia has accelerated for six month straight as rising costs of education and healthcare drove up August's inflation reading to its highest since December 2017, data from the Central Statistics Agency showed on Monday.
Inflation in August was recorded at 3.5 percent, up from 3.3 percent a month earlier, the data showed.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile food prices and administered prices, picked up pace from 3.18 percent in July to 3.3 percent in August.
"[The rise] in inflation in August was driven by increases in school fees, from elementary school to the universities. Prices of some raw foods like red chili and bird-eye chili have also remained high due to a prolonged dry season," agency head Suhariyanto said on Monday.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency meanwhile has predicted that most regions in Indonesia would see the rainy season pushed back by 10 to 30 days as cold weather in the southern parts of the Indian Ocean prevents cloud formation over the Indonesian archipelago.
Most islands in Indonesia usually see the rainy season starting as early as August.
Nevertheless, the inflation has remained within the range predicted by Bank Indonesia, the central bank, and the government, who say it is unlikely to go above 3.5 percent this year.
Bank Indonesia has cut its benchmark interest rate twice in the past two months in an attempt to maintain economic growth and in anticipation that major economies in the world will continue to ease their monetary policies.
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