'€œBoth calendar year and '€˜year-on-year'€™ (yoy) inflation rates stood at 8.38 percent,'€ said BPS chairman Suryamin in a press conference in Jakarta on Thursday as quoted by Antara news agency.

He said the lower figure was achieved after the inflation rate in December 2013 reached 0.55 percent, almost matching that of the previous level of inflation in December 2012, which was 0.54 percent.

'€œThe inflation level in December 2013 was not too different with the previous year. It meant the government managed to push down both prices and inflationary pressures,'€ said Suryamin.

Overall, the inflation rate in 2013 was relatively high compared to both the assumption figure of 7.2 percent as stipulated in the revised state budget and the 2012 inflation rate, which was recorded to reach only 4.3 percent. This happened due to increases in subsidized fuel prices in 2013.

The government once expected that the inflation rate at the end of 2013 would reach 9.2 percent yoy while Bank Indonesia (BI) predicted it would be within a range of 9 and 9.8 percent (yoy), assuming the direct impact of subsidized fuel price hikes occurred for more than three months.

Earlier, Finance Minister Chatib Basri estimated that the inflation rate at the end of 2013 would be within a range of 8.4 percent (yoy) while the inflation rate in December 2013 would reach between 0.5 and 0.6 percent. (ebf)

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