© Reuters. Visitors walk as they leave Bank Indonesia headquarters in Jakarta, Indonesia, January 17, 2019. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan/File Photo
By Susobhan Sarkar
BENGALURU (Reuters) – Bank Indonesia (BI) will leave its key policy rate unchanged at 6.00% on Thursday and likely keep it at that level until at least mid-2024, according to a Reuters poll of economists in which a few respondents still expected another rate hike.
Despite inflation inching up to 2.56% in October from 2.28% in September, it was still within the central bank’s 2%-4% target range for the year, suggesting price pressures were less of a concern in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
Indeed, Bank Indonesia’s surprise 25-basis-point rate hike on Oct. 19 was aimed at propping up the rupiah, which had been down around 8% against the dollar since May.
The currency has since gained nearly 2% against the greenback and was trading around 15,540/$ on Monday. Expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve was done with hiking rates also boosted the rupiah and other Asian currencies.
“Bank Indonesia is likely to keep rates unchanged this month. Rupiah stability was the driving factor behind the unexpected move last month,…
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