Deflation Predicted to Occur in April
18 April 2014 11:30 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Bank Indonesia governor Agus Martowardojo predicted a deflation to occur in April due to food price drop during harvest time. "Condition for these two weeks will be generally better," he said on Thursday.
Agus did not specify the deflation figure, but said year on year inflation in April will reach 7.2 percent, lower than year on year last month which was 7.3 percent. "So it shows improvement and inflation all year towards 4.5 percent plus-minus one."
Finance Minister Muhammad Chatib Basri also said there would be deflation in April due to food price drop. "I haven't checked the number, but deflation is a big possibility as we have entered harvest time and food price decreases," he said.
The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) previously reported inflation of 0.08 percent in March 2014, lower than the rate of price increase in the previous month which was 0.26 percent. From 82 cities, 45 cities had inflation and 37 had deflation.
According to the BPS, inflation occurred due to price hike shown by index increase in several groups of expenditures which are food, drinks, cigarettes and tobacco, all 0.43 percent. The second largest increase is in the health group with inflation of 0.41 percent and followed by transportation, communication and financial services with 0.24 percent.
ANGGA SUKMA WIJAYA