Consumer prices index down 0.07% in June

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's economic indicators improved last month, with the consumer price index (CPI) declining by 0.07 percent after a rise of 0.06 percent in May, Minister of Information Harmoko announced yesterday.

After a limited cabinet meeting on the economy, Harmoko said that the country booked a surplus of $366.2 million in international trade in April.

He explained that the June deflation was the second this year after a 0.06 decline in the CPI last March.

The deflation lowered the cumulative inflation rate for the January-June period to 4.03 percent, a significant drop from the 5.38 percent recorded in the same period of last year.

The June deflation was attributed to a 0.05 percent decline in food prices, while housing prices rose 0.17 percent, clothing 0.07 percent and other goods and services by 0.19 percent.

"The decline in the inflation rate is very encouraging and President Soeharto has instructed all related institutions to continue their efforts to curb inflation during the rest of the year," Harmoko said.

He said that the country's foreign trade balance recorded a surplus of $366.2 million in April, with exports reaching $4.01 billion and imports $3.64 billion. Oil and gas contributed $939.2 million to the April exports and non-oil products $3.07 billion.

The April surplus, slightly lower than $477.5 million in March, brought the country's total trade surplus in the first four months of this year to $1.98 billion.

Exports in the January-April period reached $15.25 billion, while imports were recorded at $13.26 billion.

Harmoko said that the cabinet meeting also discussed the increase in the number of foreign tourist arrivals, which rose to 335,735 in May, or 27.7 percent over the same month of last year. The country's foreign exchange earnings from the tourism sector rose to $410.91 million in May, 29 percent higher than during the same month last year. (hen)

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