JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesia’s annual inflation rate was 0.76% in January, official data showed on Monday, dropping sharply from 1.57% in December and coming in below the lower bound of the central bank’s target range for the year.
According to the country’s statistics bureau, it was the lowest rate of inflation since January 2000.
The rate came in below analysts’ estimate of a 1.88% in a Reuters poll and outside Bank Indonesia’s (BI) target range of 1.5% to 3.5%.
On a month-on-month basis, the consumer price index dropped by 0.76% in January, mainly because of a 50% discount in electricity tariffs for some customers and lower airfares, the statistics bureau said.
The government has said electricity discounts will last until February as part of a set of incentives to support people’s purchasing power.
The core inflation rate, which strips out government-controlled prices and volatile food prices, rose slightly in January to 2.36% year-on-year compared with December, while it was close to the poll forecast of 2.30%.
BI delivered a surprise cut in rates at its policy review last month, and said inflation was expected to remain contained over 2025 and 2026. It projected a 2.7% annual inflation rate at end-2025, with core inflation at 2.6%.
(Reporting by Stefanno Sulaiman, Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by John Mair and Gerry doyle)
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