SBI rate down to 14.78%

SBI rate down to 14.78%

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

The rate on one-month SBI notes stood at 14.78 percent, down from 14.87 percent at last week's auction, Bank Indonesia said.

Bank Indonesia said it accepted Rp 20 trillion (US$2.25 billion), or 78.34 percent of the total bids received at the auction.

Bank Indonesia has been trying to drive domestic interest rates lower to help reduce the cost of servicing the debt taken by the government to bail out local banks after the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Easing inflationary pressure has allowed the central bank to guide interest rate lower.

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