JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – Bank Indonesia’s board of governors today decided to keep the benchmark BI rate at 7.5%, for seven consecutive months.
The rate of lending and deposit facility is also maintained at 7.5% and 5.75% respectively. The decision is inline with effort to lead the inflation to 4.5% plus minus 1% this year and 4.0% plus minus 1% next year.
While Indonesian economy grew by 5.21% year on year in the first quarter of this year, slower than 5.72% growth in the previous quarter. The current account deficit is expected to reach 2.06% in first quarter of this year, lower than 2.12% in previous quarter.
Meanwhile foreign exchange reserves increased to US$105.6 billion in April 2014, equivalent to 6.1 months import and 5.9 months of government’s foreign debt payment.
Along with the weakening domestic demand, banks’ loan credit growth was 19.1% year on year in first quarter of this year, compared to 21.4% in previous quarter.
The rupiah weakened to Rp11,624 against the US Dollar. While composite index of the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) ended flat at 4860 but trade was volatile.