People practice social distancing while buying vegetables amid the COVID-19 outbreak in Depok, West Java, on April 28. (Source: Reuters)Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia’s inflation rate in July dropped to the lowestlevel since 2000 as the COVID-19 pandemic ravages people’s purchasing power,according to Statistics Indonesia’s (BPS).
The country’s consumer price index (CPI) wasup by 1.54 percent year-on-year in July, below Bank Indonesia’s (BI) targetrange of between 2 and 4 percent. It was also lower than June’s inflation rateof 1.96 percent.
Meanwhile, the core inflation rate stood at 2.07percent, as government-administered prices were up 0.70 percent and volatileprices only rose by 0.35 percent year-on-year.
BPS head Suhariyanto said the core inflation was still weak and theGovernment still has to work hard to boost people’s purchasing power.
The Southeast Asian country gradually restarted economic activities in July toaccelerate the recovery of its economy, which has been badly hit by thepandemic.
The Indonesiangovernment has also earmarked 695.2 trillion Rp (about 47.2 billion USD) for stimulusmeasures to strengthen the country’s health care response and boost the economyamid the ongoing health crisis.
However, it predicted thecountry’s gross domestic product (GDP) to have contracted by 3.8 percent in thesecond quarter and possibly shrinking further in the third, which would markIndonesia’s first recession since the 1998 financial crisis./.
VNA
