SBI rate up for second week in a row

SBI rate up for second week in a row

JAKARTA: The weighted average interest rate on one-month SBI notes rose slightly for the second week in a row at auction Wednesday, the central bank said.

The one-month SBI notes stood at 14.99 percent at the weekly auction, up a touch from 14.98 percent previously, Bank Indonesia said.

Bank Indonesia said it accepted Rp 15 trillion (US$1.65 billion) in bids at the auction, or 73.43 percent of the total.

The meager increase in the rate came amid the rupiah's renewed weakness against the dollar due to demand for the U.S. unit to meet offshore debt repayments.

Despite the small increase, the SBI rate is still on a downward trend, analysts said.

Bank Indonesia has been dropping rates to cut the cost of funding the bailout of the country's banking sector.

The one-month SBI rate stood at around 17 percent at the start of this year. -- Dow Jones