Consumer price up 1st time in eight months
Consumer price up 1st time in eight months
JAKARTA (JP): The consumer price index (CPI) rose by 0.06
percent in October from the previous month, the first inflation
since March, head of the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS)
Sugito Suwito said on Monday.
Sugito said that the year-on-year inflation was 1.58 percent.
"Higher gold jewelry prices and transportation costs were the
major contributors to the inflation," he told a press conference.
"If gold jewelry is taken out from the CPI basket, last month
still saw a deflation of 0.04 percent," he added, pointing out
that food prices continued to decline.
BPS reported that the CPI in October was 198.79, compared to
198.68 in September, resulting in inflation of 0.06 percent.
BPS said that cumulative inflation for the first eight months
was 0.08 percent, while inflation for the first seven months of
the 1999/2000 fiscal year (April to October) was minus 3.85
percent.
Sugito said the General Session of the People's Consultative
Assembly last month affected the exchange rate of the rupiah
against the U.S. dollar which in turn sent prices higher,
particularly of gold jewelry.
"Every political agenda has an impact, but thank God the
impact was not too big," he said.
Indonesia held its first democratic presidential election in
50 years last month.
Sugito forecast that inflation for the whole calendar year
would be less than 2.5 percent if "nothing extreme" occurred in
December, during which the Christmas celebration and the Muslim
fasting month will coincidentally take place.
Bank Indonesia expects inflation this year to be about 2
percent.
Indonesia suffered hyperinflation of more than 77 percent last
year when the economic crisis deepened and the rupiah fell to as
low as Rp 17,000 against the dollar.
The economy has posted steady deflation since March, which
economists say mostly reflects the people's eroded purchasing
power during the economic crisis.
BPS said that food prices continued to fall by 0.76 percent in
October.
It also reported that prices of processed food, beverages and
cigarettes fell by 0.06 percent.
But BPS said that housing costs rose by 0.2 percent, clothing
prices by 1.13 percent, health costs by 0.03 percent and
recreation, education and sports costs by 0.38 percent.
The bureau reported that transportation and communication
costs increased 0.81 percent.
On foreign trade, BPS said exports in September declined by
2.34 percent to US$4.49 billion, from $4.60 billion in August.
Exports in January to September were recorded at $35.01
billion, or down 6 percent compared to the same period in 1998,
BPS said.
The bureau said that non-oil and gas exports were down 0.15
percent to $3.58 billion in September and declined by 9.11
percent in the first nine months, compared to the same period
last year.
BPS reported that imports in September slightly increased to
$2.02 billion from the level in August.
"But this rise is rather negligible. This also means that
exports over the next two to three months will remain low, given
the heavy reliance of industrial exports on imported raw
materials," Sugito said.
BPS said that imports for the January to September period were
valued at $17.59 billion, or a 12.76 percent decline from the
level in the same period last year.
Consumer good imports between January and August were recorded
at $1.57 billion, or a 29.31 percent increase compared to the
same period last year.
"This means that our industry has not yet recovered," Sugito
said.
BPS said that imports of raw materials in the January to
August period declined by 4.24 percent, while imports of capital
goods dropped by 53.70 percent.
"This indicates a depressed condition in the manufacturing
sector," Sugito added.
BPS said tourist arrivals in September were recorded at
342,832, up by 3.95 percent from the level in August.
"Usually, the tourist sector provides a boost to the economy
when exports are weak," Sugito said.
But due to political and social unrest in the country,
tourists arrivals were low, he added. (rei)