JAKARTA: Bank Indonesia said it had determined its benchmark interest rate (BI rate) for budget composing purposes in the future with a projection of 7.5 percent.
“I can say that for budget composing purposes, we have determined that the BI rate will be 7.5 percent,” the central bank’s governor Agus Martowardojo said as quoted by Antara at the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Monday.
He said BI determined the policy rate after it considered the current condition and data the central bank had collected and processed.
“The actuality may be different from what was drawn up. This policy is aimed at composing our budget projection and posture,” said Agus.
Earlier, BI kept its benchmark interest rate steady at 7.5 percent for the sixth consecutive month during its board of governors’ meeting earlier this month after it decreased the BI rate from 7.75 percent to 7.5 percent in February. In the meeting, the central bank also determined that the deposit facility rate (Fasbi) and the lending facility rate (repo) should stay at 5.5 percent and 8 percent, respectively.
Agus said amid ongoing global economy uncertainties, BI would optimize its monetary operations both in the rupiah currency market and the foreign currency market.
He further said BI would continue to strengthen its coordination with the government to speed up the fiscal stimulus to push Indonesia’s economic growth.
