The Jakarta Post
Indonesia will see its inflation rate jump to more than 3 percent this year due to hikes in government-regulated prices, economists have said. The country recorded an annual inflation rate of 2.68 percent in January, as chili, fish and tobacco prices increased, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) revealed on Monday. Meanwhile, lower prices of air tickets and fuel contributed to the month’s deflation. “Going forward, we predict inflation in 2020 will remain stable within Bank Indonesia’s [BI] 2020 target range and reach 3.25 percent by the end of the year,” state-owned Bank Mandiri chief economist Andry Asmoro wrote in a research note on Monday. “This relatively high inflation forecast compared to last year’s realization is mainly due to the possibility of some adjustments in administered prices,” he added. The government sharply increased nati...