JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – Central bank, Bank Indonesia, schedules to make a decision on BI Rate policy today (July 11), after setting the rate at 6% last month, first time after past 16 months.
As inflation is expected to have a pressure in third quarter of 2013, BI might expectedly raise again BI Rate to 6.25% this month.
Sigit Pramono, the chairman of Indonesian Banking Association (Perbanas), demands BI to provide a clear direction or a certainty on BI Rate policy, then the industry could anticipate such a change.
“No problem if BI Rate would be raised again to 6.25%, but we demand a certainty how long the policy would persist,” he was quoted as saying by Bank Indonesia.
While supported by overall market sentiment, banking stocks gained this morning was also boosted by expectation of another rise of BI Rate, which would affect the increase in banks’ interest rate for deposits.
At 10.42 am Jakarta time, Bank Mandiri surged 7%, Bank Rakyat Indonesia jumped 5/14%, Bank Negara Indonesia surged 5%, and Bank Central Asia climbed 3.17%.