Inflation rate down to 0.16 percent

JAKARTA (JP): Drops in food prices caused the country's inflation rate to decline to 0.16 percent last month, bringing the cumulative inflation rate to 5.38 percent during the first six months of this year, Minister of Information Harmoko said.

After a monthly cabinet meeting on the economy at the Bina Graha Presidential office yesterday, Harmoko announced that food prices fell by an average of 0.43 percent last month, while prices in the housing sector increased by 0.12 percent, clothing prices by 0.14 percent and the prices of miscellaneous goods and services by 0.94 percent.

The inflation rate increased from 1.16 percent in January to 1.31 percent in February before falling to 0.57 percent in March, but rose back to 1.69 percent in April. It fell to 0.49 percent in May.

Harmoko said President Soeharto, who presided over the meeting, has instructed all government institutions to continue their efforts to keep the inflation rates low in the coming months.

The government, under its state policy guidelines, is committed to keeping the inflation rate at a maximum of five percent per annum during the current Sixth Five Year Development Plan (Repelita VI) period, which ends in 1999.

Harmoko said yesterday that Indonesia enjoyed a trade surplus of US$354.3 million in April from its exports of $3.41 billion, while its imports reached only $3.05 billion.

Harmoko's figures indicated a substantial decline in the trade surplus from $477.2 million in the previous month and from $815.5 million in April 1994 due to increasing imports. The country's imports were recorded at slightly above $3 billion in March, when exports reached $3.48 billion, and at $2.31 billion in April 1994, when exports reached $3.13 billion.

Harmoko said yesterday that non-oil products contributed $2.53 billion to April's export revenues, while oil and gas exports reached $880.5 million.

During the January-April period, Indonesia's cumulative revenues from exports were recorded at $13.58 billion and its spending for imports at $12.01 billion. The country, as a result, gained a trade surplus of $1.57 billion in the first four months of this year, the minister said.

He said the money supply as of May reached Rp 45.22 trillion ($20.14 billion), as compared to Rp 44.79 trillion as of April. (riz)