Inflation rate fell to 2.01% last year
Inflation rate fell to 2.01% last year
JAKARTA (JP): Inflation rose to 1.73 percent in December from
0.25 percent in November, bringing inflation for 1999 to 2.01
percent, the Central Bureau of Statistics announced on Friday.
The inflation rate in 1999 was just slightly higher than the 2
percent targeted by the government, but much lower than the 77.63
percent recorded in 1998.
The chief of the statistics bureau, Sugito Suwito, said the
increase in inflation in December was predictable because demand
traditionally strengthened around Christmas, Ramadhan and the New
Year.
"The major contributors to inflation ... were increases in the
prices of food, processed food, beverages, cigarettes and
tobacco," Sugito said.
However, Sugito said inflation for December could have been
higher if the supply of a number of food items, including rice,
chicken and other meats, had been disrupted. "The supplies of
these commodities have been so tremendous."
Sugito did point out that the inflation rate in December 1999
was higher than the 1.42 percent inflation in December 1998.
The first nine months of the 1999/2000 fiscal year beginning
in April have seen 2.01 percent deflation.
"It is a figure similar to the whole year's, but with a
negative sign," Sugito said.
Sugito said 1999 generally saw decreasing food prices,
particularly from July until October. "But from November to
December food prices increased slightly due to Christmas, the New
Year and Ramadhan."
He said the country's inflation rate was not related to the
domestic political situation. "We can see that in the general
election month of June inflation was at minus 0.34 percent, not
at all effected by the country's political agenda."
He also said inflation in October -- the month of the
presidential election -- was 0.06 percent.
During 1999, the highest inflation rates were recorded in
January, February and December. All of the other months saw
either very low inflation rates or deflation.
"The inflation rate in 1999 only surged when there was a
supply-demand imbalance," he said, adding that otherwise
inflation remained relatively under control.
For 2000, Sugito said inflation would remain low as long as
the balance between supply and demand was maintained.
Sugito predicted the inflation rate for 2000 would be between
6 percent and 9 percent higher than the economic growth of
between 3 percent and 4 percent.
The factors which could push inflation in 2000, Sugito said,
would be government policies such as a reduction of fuel and
electricity subsidies, changes of import tariffs and a planned
raise in the salaries of civil servants.
"All these are not external factors -- supply and demand --
but instead policies made by the government," he said.
Exports in November totaled US$4.39 billion, slightly lower
than the $4.58 billion in October, sending January to November
export revenue to $44.06 billion, a 1.94 percent decline from the
same period in 1998.
The decline was mainly due to a fall in non-oil and gas
revenue, Sugito said, adding that decreasing demand on the
international market for Indonesian goods also contributed to the
decrease.
Exports generally performed better toward the end of 1999 as
compared to earlier in the year.
Imports in November increased slightly to $2.05 billion from
$2.03 billion in October. January to November imports stood at
$21.83 billion, a 12.45 percent decrease from the corresponding
period the previous year.
The decline is attributable to the decrease in non-oil and gas
imports, Sugito said. (udi)