SBI rate falls to 13.13%

JAKARTA (JP): The interest rate on the central bank's one- month promissory note (SBI) fell at the weekly auction on Wednesday to a weighted average yield of 13.13 percent, from 13.80 percent the previous week.

Bank Indonesia (BI) absorbed Rp 6.5 trillion (about US$1 billion) at the SBI auction, the bank said in a statement.

This amount was 80.6 percent of the total bids submitted to BI.

BI said there was still room to decrease the interest rate on the SBI to between 10 percent and 12 percent by the end of the year.

The government has taken steps to reduce interest rates to a suitable level for business investment since the beginning of the year, when rates were over 30 percent. (udi)