Consumer prices in Indonesia rose 0.31 percent in July as prices of volatile food products, mainly chili, soared in the month.

The figure is lower than the 0.55 percent registered in June, the month of the Idul Fitri holidays this year, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data show. 

“Inflation in July 2019 was still affected by rising food prices, including bird's eye chili, which contributed 0.12 percent to the inflation,” BPS head Suhariyanto told a press conference on Thursday.

Food commodity prices jumped 0.8 percent in July, contributing 0.17 percent to July inflation, while prices for education, recreation and sport rose 0.92 percent but contributed just 0.07 percent.

The overall consumer price index was up 3.32 percent year-on-year (yoy), getting closer to the government's goal of 3.5 percent, and higher than in the same month last year, when annual inflation was 3.18 percent. 

Core inflation is still at a healthy figure of 3.18 percent yoy, while administered prices and volatile food prices were up 2.22 percent and 4.9 percent yoy, respectively.