Small inflation rise to 0.07% recorded in February

JAKARTA (JP): Inflation in February slightly increased to 0.07 percent from the previous month, but fell to minus 0.84 percent when compared to the same month last year, the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) said on Monday.

BPS chief Sugito Suwito said that prices of several commodities continued to move upward, particularly due to the weakening of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar during the month.

"After the Idul Fitri holiday, prices of several commodities, particularly gold, continued to increase due to the fluctuation in the exchange rate of the rupiah against the dollar," Sugito told a news conference.

He said the rupiah weakened on news of a standoff between President Abdurrahman Wahid and former armed forces commander Gen. Wiranto.

Inflation in January jumped to 1.32 percent due to the increase in prices of most commodities as Indonesian Muslims celebrated the post-fasting month Idul Fitri holiday, which coincidentally occurred shortly after Christians celebrated Christmas, and the New Year holiday.

But Sugito said that prices of other commodities, particularly food, declined in February after the festivities were over.

BPS reported that food prices declined 0.33 percent, cost of education, recreation and sports fell 0.12 percent and transportation and communications 0.13 percent.

But the bureau said that prices of processed foods, beverages, tobacco and cigarettes increased 0.08 percent, housing 0.47 percent, clothing and jewelry 0.98 percent, and the cost of health care 0.44 percent.

BPS said that inflation for the first two months of the year was 1.39 percent.

The central bank forecast that inflation this year would be in the range of 5 percent to 7 percent depending on the size of the planned increase in several administered prices, including fuel and electricity, and a rise in the salaries of government employees.

BPS said that 22 major cities experienced inflation, and 21 cities experienced deflation.

It said that Ambon, the capital of riot-hit Maluku province, recorded the highest inflation of 3.08 percent, and the town of Kediri in East Java enjoyed the lowest level of inflation at 0.04 percent.

BPS said that the largest deflation level of minus 1.99 percent was seen in the oil and gas-rich town of Lhokseumawe in Aceh province, and the smallest deflation level of minus 0.01 percent was recorded in the East Java town of Malang.

Sugito expected that inflation in March would fall on the back of the start of the rice harvest.

"The usual cycle is that inflation will go up in January and slightly up in February, but will fall in March," he said.

Exports

BPS also reported that exports in January declined 2.43 percent to US$4.36 billion from $4.47 billion in December.

But the bureau said that exports jumped 44.65 percent if compared to the same month in 1999.

"There's an indication that export performance started to improve in January," Sugito said.

He said that traditionally exports in January were lower than in December, but the decline this year was less than last year's figure.

He also said that improvement in the export performance was also related to the stronger import performance during the month, particularly the import of capital goods.

BPS reported that imports in January reached $2.13 billion, slightly down from $2.14 billion in December.

But it added that imports increased 20.42 percent if compared to the same month in 1999.

BPS reported that non-oil and gas exports in January declined 3.31 percent to $3.24 billion from the level in December, while oil and gas exports increased 0.21 percent to $1.12 billion.

The bureau said that export in the January-December 1999 period reached $48.65 billion, or a 0.4 percent decline compared to the same period in 1998.

BPS reported that imports of consumer goods in the January- December 1999 period totaled $2.48 billion, or an increase of 29.48 percent from the same level in 1998.

It said that imports of raw materials in the same period fell 6.48 percent while imports of capital goods dropped 45.39 percent.

Tourist arrivals declined 10.29 percent to about 292,000 in January from 326,000 in December, the bureau said.(rei)