Indonesia's CPI rises 3.49% y/y in August, misses estimates (IDR unfazed)

Indonesia’s annual inflation rate accelerated further in August, according to the latest data published by Statistics Indonesia on Monday.

Indonesian August’s annual inflation rate rose to 3.49% on the year, compared with July’s 3.32% and 3.54% expectations but remained between the Bank Indonesia’s (BI) 2.5-4.5% target range. The annualized core figure arrived at 3.30% vs. 3.18% previous and 3.17% expected.

Meanwhile, the monthly inflation reading for August came in at 0.12% vs. 0.16% expected and 0.31% last.

The USD/IDR cross keeps its range near three-week lows of 14,185, up 0.10% on the day. The Indonesian Rupiah remains little affected by mixed Indonesian CPI figures for the month of August.

About Indonesia’s CPI

The Inflation index released by the Statistics Indonesia is a measure of price movements by the comparison between the retail prices of a representative shopping basket of goods and services. The purchase power of Indonesian Rupiah is dragged down by inflation. The CPI is used as a key indicator to measure inflation and changes in purchasing trends. Generally speaking, a high reading is seen as positive (or bullish) for the Rupiah, while a low reading is seen as negative (or Bearish).