Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Indonesia’s central bank said it has “room” to reduce interest rates again after lowering borrowing costs for a third straight month to cushion Southeast Asia’s biggest economy from the global recession.
Governor Boediono and his seven colleagues today cut the key rate to 8.25 percent from 8.75 percent, according to a statement on Bank Indonesia’s Web site today. The decision was predicted by 20 of 23 economists in a Bloomberg News survey.
Policy makers across Asia have slashed borrowing costs as demand for the region’s exports plummet amid the global slump. Bank Indonesia, which reduced its key rate after inflation eased to a nine-month low and exports plunged, said the world economy had become “gloomier” in recent months.
“Inflation is clearly no longer an issue,” said Lim Su Sian, an economist at DBS Group Holdings Ltd. in Singapore. “More significantly, the domestic economy needs all the support it can get, with trade data pointing to rapidly deteriorating external demand.”
The rupiah increased 0.3 percent to 11,690 against the dollar at 9:49 a.m. in Jakarta following the central bank’s second consecutive half-point cut. The benchmark stock index rose 0.5 percent.
Consumer prices in Indonesia rose 9.2 percent in January from a year earlier, after increasing 11.1 percent in the previous month. Exports dropped 20 percent in December from a year earlier, the biggest decline since 2001.
“If inflation slows next month, there is room for further rate cuts,” Bank Indonesia’s Senior Deputy Governor Miranda Goeltom told reporters in Jakarta today.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar