JAKARTA: The weighted average interest rate on the benchmark

JAKARTA: The weighted average interest rate on the benchmark one-month SBI promissory notes fell slightly at auction Wednesday from a week ago, the central bank said.

The rate on one-month SBI notes stood at 14.87 percent, down from 14.93 percent at last week's auction, Bank Indonesia said.

Bank Indonesia said it accepted Rp 16 trillion (US$1.7 billion) in bids at the auction, or 72.79 percent of the total bids received.

The weighted-average rate on the three-month SBI notes fell to 14.929 percent from 14.995 percent, Bank Indonesia added. It accepted Rp 12.5 trillion for the three-month tenor, or 96.46 percent of total bids.

Bank Indonesia has been trying to drive domestic interest rates lower to help reduce the costs shouldered by the government to bail out local banks after the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Bank Indonesia officials have said the central bank aims to drive the SBI benchmark rate down to between 13.5 percent and 14 percent by the end of the year. -- Dow Jones