Indonesia posts 3.02 pct inflation last year, lowest since 2010

Indonesia posted 3.02 percent inflation throughout last year, or lower than 3.35 percent in 2015 and apparently the lowest figure since 2010 that stood at 6.96 percent, a senior official said here on Tuesday.

Head of Indonesia's Central Statistics Bureau (BPS) Suhariyanto said the inflation figure in December last year, that stood at 0.42 percent, significantly contributed to the annual inflation which he claimed in controllable level.

"Yes, it fits with the expectation. That figure was below the assumption set in 2016 state budget at 4 plus minus 1 percent. So, it is very stable. Let's hope that we can regain it again this year," Suhariyanto told a press conference in his office here.

According to him increasing price in red chili commodity contributed the most to inflation throughout last year.

Other price hikes that contributed to inflation last year were also found in commodities, such as filtered clove cigar, shallots, flight tickets, garlic, cellphone top-up tariff and fresh fish.

Explaining the inflation in December, he said that from 82 cities surveyed by BPS, 78 of them saw inflation, while the remaining 4 saw deflation.

Price hikes were seen in food components and processed food that rose 5.69 and 5.38 percent respectively from those in the corresponding period a year earlier. It was followed by clothing and health cost increase up to 3.05 and 3.92 percent respectively

Insignificant price hike was seen in water, electricity and gas tariffs at 1.90 percent from they were in December 2015.

Price reduction was seen in transportation, communication and financial service costs, down by 0.72 percent if compared to the same period a year earlier. Endit