Indonesia Records Annual Inflation of 1.68% in 2020

Jakarta: Indonesia's consumer price index (CPI) recorded an annual inflation of 1.68 percent in 2020, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) announced on Monday.

Meanwhile, the country's CPI recorded a month-to-month inflation of 0.45 percent in December 2020.
"Inflation in December 2020 was mainly influenced by rising prices of several commodities such as red chili peppers, chicken eggs, chicken meat, bird eye chili peppers and aviation services," BPS chairman Suhariyanto said during a video conference.

According to the latest survey conducted by Bank Indonesia (BI), respondents predicted milder inflationary pressures in the next 3 months (January 2021) due to adequate supply and smooth distribution of goods as well as price normalisation after the Christmas period, before intensifying in the upcoming 6 months (April 2021) due to rising prices of raw materials as well as the start of Ramadan and approach to Eid-ul-Fitr. 

This was confirmed by a decline in the 3-month Price Expectations Index (PEI) to 139.8 from 142.5 and an increase in the 6-month PEI to 163.9 from 160.0.

The central bank projected inflation will return to to the target range of 3.0%±1% in 2021.

(WAH)