Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia`s monthly inflation rate hit a four-year record high of 1.77 percent in January 2008, driven by an increase in the prices of foodstuffs, processed food and clothing, the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) said Friday.
"When we look at inflation rates in recent years particularly January they always reach more than 1 percent. The cause is not only internal factors such as distribution but also global factors such as the higher prices of foodstuffs including soybean and rice on the international market," BPS Deputy Chief for Distribution and Service Statistics Ali Rosidi said on Friday.
In the past five years, monthly inflation rates in January were always above 1 percent. On-month inflation rate was 1.43 percent in January 2005, 1.36 percent in January 2006, 1.04 percent in January 2007 and 1.77 percent in January 2008, he said.
"Monthly inflation rate hit a record high of 1.99 percent in January 2002. I don`t remember what happened in that year. The figure further fell. In the period of 2005-2008 monthly inflation always reached more than 1 percent," he said.
The increase in the prices of foodstuffs, processed food and clothing contributed 2.77 percent, 2.02 percent and 2.31 percent respectively to January 2008`s inflation rate. The country recorded a monthly inflation of 1.10 percent in December 2007. January 2008`s inflation brought the year-on-year inflation rate to 7.36 percent, Rosyidi said. He said inflation happened in all of the 45 cities surveyed.
"The highest city-wise inflation rate, 5.02 percent, occurred in Palangkaraya and the lowest, 0.1 percent, in Manado." Indonesia`s full-year inflation rate in 2007 stood at 6.59 percent or higher than the target of 6.1 percent set in the revised 2007 state budget. For 2008, the government has set its inflation rate target at 6 percent while Bank Indonesia (the central bank) had projected it at 5-plus-minus-1 percent.(*)
