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Inflation bites harder as Indonesia braces for ballooning transportation costs
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A worker at a state-owned oil company Pertamina filling station changes the fuel prices displayed after the announcement of a fuel price hike, in Bekasi, West Java, on Sept. 3, 2022. (Reuters/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana)
H
eadline inflation continues its upward spiral as the government raises fuel prices, setting preconditions for higher transportation costs in the coming months.
In a press conference held by Statistics Indonesia (BPS) on Monday, the latest data revealed that the consumer price index (CPI) in September jumped to 5.95 percent year-on-year (yoy), the highest since October 2015, which saw a 6.25 percent increase.
Monthly inflation, meanwhile, saw a 1.19 percent increase, the highest since December 2014 at 2.46 percent.
The headline yearly figure in September is higher than the estimates made by financial research firm Moody’s Analytics of 4.8 percent yoy, but lower than estimates by state-owned Bank Mandiri of 6.08 percent yoy.
In July, headline inflation rose to 4.94 percent yoy before easing in August to 4.69 percent yoy.
“If the trend of rising prices continues to intensify, we all need to be aware. However, if you look at the numbers, actually compared with other countries we are not so bad, so I prefer to call it 'moderate-but-vigilant',” BPS head Margo Yuwono told reporters.
As expected from the recent fuel price hike, the administered prices component in September skyrocketed by 13.28 percent yearly, compared with 6.84 percent in August, while the volatile prices component was dethroned to second place with a 9.02 percent increase yoy, slightly higher than the 8.93 percent in the previous month.
